


(Villain Deku au) No Hero

by Sodead_cemetariessayIlookalive



Category: Boku no Hero Academia, My Hero Academia
Genre: Angst, Eventual Bakugou Redemption, Eventual Quirk For Midoriya, For clarification, Graphic Torture, League of Villains, Manga Spoilers, Mental Degradation, Pain, Suffering, Swearing, Villain PoV, Villain!Izuku, it is purely for environmental reasons, personal headcanons, rip midoriya, so far it's a one-time thing, the rape happens later in the fic, there is no ship involved with the rape, trigger warning, villain!deku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-06-27 09:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 32
Words: 59,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15682221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sodead_cemetariessayIlookalive/pseuds/Sodead_cemetariessayIlookalive
Summary: Izuku Midoriya was very much used to getting the short end of the stick. He was born quirkless. His best friend as a child became his bully. However, he always had hope in becoming a hero, that is, until his hero pulled him out of that fantasy and shoved him in a trash can.Events pile up, as Midoriya thinks that life couldn’t get worse, but it does. He struggles with internal conflict and negative emotions eat him alive. Until he is reborn. Reborn as Deku. That childhood nickname that his friend gave him was his ultimate weapon in making the world pay for what it had done.





	1. Left Behind

Izuku Midoriya stood dejectedly underneath the overpass of the bridge. His face was as ruined as the book that he held tightly to his chest. Despite almost dying underneath a bridge, he was having what could be described as the best moment of his life. Still weak, he stood up to face his all time hero, All Might. The hero was too busy flipping through the pages of Midoriya’s notebook. “A-All Might,” he choked out of his scratched throat. “Hey kid,” All Might smiled. Toshinori was, admittedly, distracted from his dwindling form. He had a few minutes to spare before he had to shrink, so he decided to talk to this kid; he probably just made his day at the same time as saving his life. “I read your journal, you seem to be quite the hero enthusiast,” All Might laughed, but the response wasn’t what he was expecting, ”Actually, I wanted to ask you about that. Even if I’m quirkless, can I be a hero?” His eyes shine with hope as he held the now signed book to his chest. The bulky hero turned to him as Midoriya looked hopefully to the idol. “Becoming a hero is not as easy, nor as glorious, as media makes it out to be,” he realized that he was being to harsh with the kid, who was probably just another one of his fans. “Listen, kid, your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated, and that detection skill of yours is quite the feat.” Midoriya didn’t dare let the light on his face show, for he knew that ‘but’ was just waiting to happen. “But without the power to back it up, you’re nothing but a fanboy...” he turned on his heel, flinching as he heard the defeated laugh from the kid behind him. “You should give up on your dream before it gets you killed” he felt pain, himself, when the words left his lips, but it was the only way to save this kid’s life. You have to burn the underbrush for the shrubs to grow. Toshinori knew better than anyone: this kid wouldn’t survive a day. He couldn’t even turn back around to face the kid. As the great All Might, he could handle anything except crying children. Hurt children? Okay, but psychological pain was not in his demographic of ‘Smash.’ 

The air was almost empty, but Midoriya couldn’t hide the pain in his laugh as he realized that he needed to come to terms with the death of his dream. The green haired boy flipped to the last written page on his notebook, All Might’s signature. He flipped another page, but all that he wrote was UA with a scratch through it and the name of a normal high school next to it. He was going to have to change his high school future plan. Nobody could blame All Might for stomping on his dreams. As a hero, his job is to protect to citizens, and he would be causing more harm than help by telling this Midoriya to strive for heroship only to be killed; it was better to nip the bud than kill the flower, right? Even Midoriya, himself, knew that his dreams were only going to end in flames, only if it was that mild. Alas he could run from the truth no longer, his dreams were garbage, and so was he… All Might made sure to walk a ways away from Midoriya before leaping into the sky like the mighty hero that he was.

Midoriya stood blankly. It took all of his strength not to fall to his knees, but he remained standing for the short length of time that he could. Of course, not even All Might would fuel his stupid delusions. Bakugou was right: he just wasn’t cut out to be a hero. Tears threatened to prick his eyes, but his train of thought was roaring to quickly to stop now. He would be lucky to be a casualty at a crime scene! All he was born to do was watch greatness from the window of his dead end office job. He was destined to be one of those people that performed small miracles, but everybody wrote off as nothing. He would be logging community service hours in his book and cleaning up rubble from actual heroes. He trudged onto the streets, aimlessly wandering home based on pure muscle memory. His ears were numb to the white noise of every passerby. It was only when he nearly lost his life to a lamp post was he drawn back to reality. A crazed lunatic in a car was screeching about how kids ruined his life. A former teacher who lost his job due to false accusations. Midoriya was just outside of his crash range, but he knew someone in that radius. Midoriya bolted towards the scene as he called out his the other kid’s name, or nickname rather. He arrived just in time to push Bakugou out of the way. Broken and flung forward, Midoriya shook hands with death for the second time today. It only got worse as the perpetrator exited the car. Breathing what seemed to be his last breath, Midoriya was saved by a hair when the offender turned to fight the greater of two evils. Unfortunately for the ex-teacher, Bakugou threw a nasty swing. He knocked the villain unconscious and was declared a hero. Yay! Except that Midoriya was yelled at for saving his life. ‘That was close,’ ‘you could have gotten seriously hurt!’ ‘You shouldn’t be that reckless, especially if you don’t have a quirk!’ He heard the same things echo, but he pushed it off and trudged on. Despite all of the ‘go to the hospital’ comments, he just wanted to go home. He had a day; Bakugou destroyed his book, he almost died twice, and his hero told him to give up on his dreams. Tears slid their way down his dejected cheeks, but no one noticed. Even if they did, nobody cared about a Deku like him.


	2. No Hero For Me

Midoriya slunk the streets; he could barely move, and he felt like collapsing on the spot. His dream came true in just a short moment as a thunk hit the back of his head. Pain split his body in two. As if he wasn’t in enough pain from the car, he now had a concussion to make it all better. He slammed to the ground as his consciousness cut off. His limp body was picked up and carried off like a bag of garbage thrown over someone’s shoulder. Not a hero in sight. Nobody to help him. The assailant slunk into the shadows and made his way through the allies.

As Midoriya awoke, he was strapped tightly to a table, and his entire body was in a throbbing pain. His clothes were limited to the pair of boxers that he had on previously, and he could feel the cold chill of the room as well as the icy surface below him. “Why did you grab this one?” a gruff voice asked. Okay, so he was kidnapped. Good to know. “He doesn’t even have a quirk!” ‘so you’re going to let me go? I never thought being quirkless could come in handy’ Midoriya thought with borderline bitterness on his silent tongue. However, it was never that easy. “This child got hit by a car and didn’t even go to the hospital! We can just give him a quirk if he needs it so badly; we cannot let this strength go to waste,” a more hasty voice replied; he was clearly the one in charge, but what did he mean by giving him a quirk? Was that even possible? He heard their thunking footsteps draw closer. No sooner did he feel a needle prick his neck. The thin point drove into his flesh and forced his eyes open. The liquid scorched his bloodstream, and he let out a scream of unfathomable pain. “He’s awake!” the hasty man replied with his gruff voice, sounding far too delighted by his adamant pain. Every fiber of Midoriya’s being cried to become unconscious once again, but every second his eyes were open led to a minute that he wouldn’t be able to close them. His screams went void; he bit his cheek to avoid killing his throat. Saving his voice was his best option if he ever wanted to escape. He forced his eyes shut as he felt the needle leave his neck as he let out a hiss similar to that of a feral kitten. The liquid spread a burning numbness throughout his body that felt like tiny needles pricking the inside of his bloodstream. His body became even heavier, if that was even possible, and he felt like all of the gravity in the room was focused on him.

Time was lost to the void as Midoriya’s internal clock was being crushed before his very eyes that wanted nothing more than to open again. Tears soaked his face and nightmares placed his sleep, but the hell never bothered to give him a break. The Doctor, as he was called, came in every so often to give Midoriya a new drug that was either mixed with or distributed along with at least one of the previous drugs. He knew that they all were different because of the way they made him feel. While one test would make a scorching heat spread across his body, the next would numb him completely. The only way he could think to describe these horrible flashes would be like a cumulative test; no two questions were the same. Some had a similar category, or effect, but it was always slightly different. He could tell the mixes by the similar pains and the doubles by the two contrasting violences, as well as the two separate pricks. Midoriya was sick of it; this hell that he was put in was worse than death. Every so often, he’s come in tapping his pen against his stupid clipboard with a new pain for Midoriya to try.

It had been so long that Midoriya had memorized the sound of his footsteps. He could tell when the Doctor was in the room at his awakening by the echoing tapping of his pen to his clipboard; it was something that he did quite often. Today it was the latter, as the thudding slowly got louder and louder. “He’s the only survivor; these results are outstanding!” the Doctor gushed like the sadistic piece of shit that he was. “Fuck you,” Midoriya chokes out. “And still so spirited. See, each drug that you took had already killed a person. People that survived their first dose never survived their second, and those never survived their third. You survived twenty six. Now, you can either stay and be tortured at my whim, or you can go home and make visits,” as if that was a question. “What do you think?” Midoriya hissed. “And the fire still burns, much like your body will for weeks to come,” the sadist laughed as he undid Midoriya’s shackles and helped him stand. The young boy pushed him off and looked to the table for the support that he needed. His legs shook as his whole body threatened to crumble. The doctor was watching, eager to help, but Midoriya would not give him a second glance, less the satisfaction. The not so subtle tapping of his pen against his clipboard continued to drive Midoriya mad as he tried to keep himself steady. After circling the table for a few times, he regained feeling in his legs, but walking was still difficult. He wouldn’t show weakness as long as the kids in him still burned, but it was a lose-lose situation when the Doctor was always happy. “Twenty six drugs in thirteen days, and you’re already moving!” he glowed as he scratched more notes into his clipboard, “I knew it was right to choose you!” He scrambled to get his phone out as he chose a contact and began the wait. He could tell the moment that the other person picked up, because the Doctor’s face lit up like a lightbulb. “Kurogiri,” the man began, but Midoriya could hear the other half’s groan despite being so far away from the phone, the Doctor looked disgruntled, but continued. “Kurogiri, it’s time to take the kid home.” No sooner did a black flame appear right in front of them; it was like a portal to the abyssal hell of the underworld, and Midoriya has a vip pass. He took his old clothing as the Doctor handed it to him, and placed it over his paper body, as his eyes filled with the horror that laid ahead. Nonetheless, he continued into the void, surprised when he found himself falling right into his door. Two anxious, loud knocks echoed into the dead of night as Midoriya thought of any excuse as to why he was gone as long as he was. Thirteen days? Was that what the Doctor said? It would have helped if he paid attention to anything other than the Doctor’s mouth moving monotonously; he droned every sound that man made out and threw it into the void. Well, all except that damned tapping of his pen or the click of his heel. As he stood sheepishly, still covered in a rainbow of bruises from the car, his skin was a shade of white that could rival the moon, and his clothes no longer fit him. His cheeks were sunken and hollow, and the moon to the night lay under his eyes, but his mom was almost as bad. She look like grief had stuck her upside the head and had it’s way with her unconscious body. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried the same few words, “Izuku, my baby,” absentmindedly as she held him close. She pulled him into the house and sat him down on the couch, ”I’m going to make you a nice warm meal! You’ve lost so much weight! I want to ask where you’ve been, but, right now, all you need is some food and sleep,” she gave a half hearted laugh, ”I need it as well.” This gentleness was what Midoriya missed. All this time spent in darkness and torture; it seemed that her fleeting hand would fade, and he’d be left on the table once again. It would be the first dream yet. All of his others were nightmares of the scorching pain that seared his inner being.

Inko Midoriya walked out to see Izuku dozing quietly on the couch. She smiled at the thought of her baby being home. After seeing him on the news getting hit by a car and him not coming home for almost two days, she was worried to death. No nearby hospitals had any record of him checking in, and nobody nearby had seen anything; it was like he dropped off the face of the Earth! As a mother, her child came first, and the police department could wait until morning. She shook Izuku awake and handed him a plate, “I know that you want to sleep, but eat a little first,” her smile was pained and tears flooded her eyes when her baby smiled back at her. “Okay, Mom,” Izuku bit into the food. It tasted far better than the mush that was shoved down his throat before every injection, because even villains follow the ‘no drugs on an empty stomach’ rule. It felt so real that Izuku wanted to cry. He didn’t want his eyes to shut once he finished the plate. Setting his plate down once nothing remained, Izuku stretched his arms out like a child, desperately needing the feeling of his mother’s hug. Real or not, he missed it so much. He felt a singular tear run across his cheek as his vision faded.


	3. Fitting Out

Izuku was surprised when he awoke enveloped in the warmth that he longed for. Seeing his mother’s sleeping face was the best thing to happen to him in a long while. He could hear her soft heartbeat as the young sunlight seeped in through the windows. Despite all internal cries of ‘don’t move,’ he got up to make breakfast for the two of them. Checking the calendar, he saw that it was a school day and let out a soft groan. Making sure that he had enough time, he quickly changed into his uniform before finishing up the breakfast that he started. His mom awoke to the soft smell with a soft smile. She all but bolted to the kitchen, tears flooded her cheeks as she saw her baby making her breakfast as if nothing had happened at all. Izuku turned around and met Inko’s gaze. Mother and son crying in the kitchen, because this wasn’t a dream. “Are you sure you want to go back to school already?” Inko realized that he was in his school uniform as she pulled away from the hug. She wasn’t blind to the bullying that her son went through, and it seemed a bit toxic for him to go back into that environment right after coming home. His reply was simply, “I’ve already missed a lot, any more and I might not pass.” She was reluctant to agree, but he had a valid point. While Inko didn’t want Izuku to go anywhere near that demon trap, education is important to his future. They sat down at the table to enjoy the breakfast that Izuku made. The air was chilled, but not awkward, as was the silence that hung in it. Inko desperately wanted to confront Izuku about the bullying, but no words could leave her mouth. She immediately recognized Katsuki Bakugou as the kid that Izuku pushed out of the way. She and Mitsuki were friends for the longest time, and Izuku and Katsuki used to be as thick as thieves as well. However when Katsuki’s quirk came in, he gradually grew distant. The two still played together, but it was no shock that Izuku kept coming home with more bruises each day. He gradually lost confidence in himself, and Inko always felt guilty. She let her baby boy go through such troubles because she didn’t want to strain her relationship with Mitsuki. They both had the same curse: a one sided crush. However, Inko valued Mitsuki because she was there, and Mitsuki was never violent with her. Clearly, her son had it worse. Nonetheless, breakfast ended without a word. Izuku gave Inko a kiss on her cheek as he turned to the door. “Izuku!” Inko called out with emotions flooding her being. “Have a good day, okay?” a single tear rolled down her cheek, but her smile was as bright as the sun outside. “I will, Mom,” Izuku smiled back reassuringly as he walked out the door.

Midoriya didn’t want to leave the safety of his home, but life moved regardless of his wishes. Every fiber of his being made him want to turn back around and rush into his mom’s open arms, but he didn’t want to worry her. To make his day even better, a familiar explosive hairstyle came into his view. He slowed his footsteps and tightly wrapped his fingers around the straps of his backpack. Slouching down to stay out of sight, he slunk to school. Of course it wasn’t that easy, though. He flew under the radar up until class started. “Students, I’d like you to welcome back Midoriya! He was in the hospital after getting hit by a car, but he’s finally well enough to join us again. Does anyone have the notes to lend him?” immediately said the stupid teacher. He acted like he had no clue about the blatant bullying that went on. “Just lend me the lesson and whatever activity sheets that we did. I’ll learn it on my own,” the whole class suppressed a gasp. Midoriya, speaking for himself? Unheard of! “Unless someone wants to lend me the notes without a melodramatic scene? Yeah, I didn’t think so,” he retorted. “What did you say, Deku?” ah, yes, King Asshole. “You know exactly what I said. That effect gets old after a while. It’s one thing if I were to insult or talk smack, but me just talking? It loses its appeal. I’m not trying to put an end to your tyranny, I just need the notes because I haven’t been here in two weeks,” he rambled, ending with a tired sigh. Another fuck up. Midoriya has just gotten so used to the Doctor’s useless speeches. The teacher, worried about his reputation, butted in quickly to stop any Bakugou damage. “I’ll give you those right now, but we need to start class. Bakugou, if you’ll sit down so that I can begin the lesson.” Bakugou sat down begrudgingly, but everyone knew that the squabble was far from over.

Class was both far too long and far too short at the same time. Midoriya looked at the notes that he took like they were in a foreign language; they might as well have been since he missed so much class time. “Oi!” Midoriya stopped out of pure instinct. “So, going to the hospital was what it took to make you finally grow some balls, eh, Deku?” Bakugou sneered as his background dancers laughed. ‘No, I got them surgically attached, just like you,’ the retort hung heavy in his tongue, but Midoriya kept quiet. His pain tolerance had grown greatly, but that didn’t mean that he could fight back. Besides, his body was still heavy from the drug intake that it had been put through. “I don’t want any trouble, and I didn’t think that you had any interest in my balls,” whoops. His self control needed a bit of work, but it was too late to turn back, “I’m flattered, but, if your interest is there, I’d suggest being a bit nicer.” Oh he was so lucky that the hallway was empty, and that the people beside him feared him too much to say anything. “Huh?” his hand cackled, and Midoriya cowered. “Care to repeat that, Deku?” he emphasized that stupid nickname that he gave Midoriya. In response, the green haired boy shivered and curled up into a ball. While he no longer feared Katsuki’s wrath, it was the quickest way to avoid it. He was an asshole, but he was aware enough to know that kicking someone while they were down was unheroic. Somehow kicking someone down wasn’t, though. “Come on, this loser knows his place. Any longer and we’ll be late to class,” Bakugou barked orders that people followed like dogs. Midoriya sighed and wondered what it would be like to have such a power. He stood up once the group was out of sight. Just his luck, the bell rang as he was approaching the classroom. “You just got back, and you’re already coming in late, Midoriya?” the teacher scolded. Everyone knew what made him late, the teachers saw it all of the time, but the truth would only get him in more trouble than it was worth. “Sorry, I didn’t do much leg work in the hospital, so they’re still a bit stiff. I had some troubles walking, but it’s fine now,” the teacher gave him that same ‘I would have accepted a stupid excuse, too’ look as they gave the same ‘I’ll excuse it this time, but only this once.’ The teacher had said that practically every day for the past year. He comes in late because of bullying, and, rather than stopping the bullying, the teacher excuses his lateness now cover up Katsuki’s tracks. Of course Midoriya understood why. With his quirk, Bakugou could top charts; he could destroy any evil in his path. It was too bad that his attitude was unbearable.

Classes were boring, with bullying sessions thrown in-between for good measure. He hid outside of the hallways when lunch came; thankfully Midoriya ate breakfast that morning. It was a wonder where the time went. Was Midoriya stupid for holding onto a friendship that ruined his life? Yeah. He was, and he knew it, too. Somewhere deep in his heart, he longed to go back to the old days. He figured a sentimental side effect of the drugs was to blame as he wiped the beginnings of tears out of his evergreen eyes. The rest of the day was uneventful as he mindlessly carried himself from class to class. Since Bakugou had decided to watch rather than to act, his followers didn’t dare touch Midoriya. That was always a pro of being bullied by the alpha; no beta was willing to get near an alpha’s omega. Con was that Midoriya was basically Bakugou’s bitch.

Bakugou clearly knew that something was up. Midoriya’s face didn’t look like someone who got out of the hospital. Worse off, his bruises looked worse than the day that he got hit. Something was up that Deku wasn’t sharing, and the thought of that pissed him off. Since they walked in the same direction anyway, Bakugou took this time to question Midoriya. “Hey, Deku!” the boy flinched, “You’ve been even more annoying than usual. There’s no way you got back from the hospital, so tell me what’s really going on!” He demanded violently as soon as they were alone. “I-I’m just tired, getting out of the hospi-” Midoriya was cut off abruptly by being pushed to the ground. “Are you looking down on me, Deku? I just said that there’s no way that you got out of the hospital, but you continue to spew that shit!” he ranted with anger burning like lava on his tongue. “But it’s the truth, Kaachan!” another lie. What was he supposed to do? Tell Bakugou that he was kidnapped and tortured? Was he going to show any remorse? The answer was still the same: no. Bakugou stormed ahead to avoid beating the answer out of Midoriya. Getting up and brushing himself off, Midoriya had nothing to do but walk forward. An envelope with his name on it lay in front of him. It’s only print read: Don’t forget about our promise. I expect to see you here tomorrow after school. Remember, we have ways of getting you there with or without your consent. Followed by an address. It was creepy and uncalled for, but not enough to make Midoriya stop walking. He marched home and enjoyed his last normal night.


	4. Pain? Who Is That?

Midoriya woke up, his body throbbing. He felt like he got hit by that car a second time. He got close to no sleep with the haunting fear of the Doctor’s table hot on his mind. His body began to feel numb without that pain to grab onto. Nonetheless, he tried to act as normal as possible to make his mother less worried. She saw through his empty façade, but didn’t say a word at the dining table. He smiled weakly at the hot meal fixed for him as he gave out a blank “I’m okay Mom, I promise.” She clearly didn’t buy it, but she had no choice but to brush it off. “Why don’t you take a day, Izuku? Just sleep, and study if you feel up to it” Inko nudged, trying to get Izuku to give a lazy ‘I’m tired’ excuse. She wanted Izuku to talk to her, but she couldn’t approach him. The morning was short and bittersweet as Izuku gave Inko a kiss goodbye and walked out the door, repeating his first lie again. “I know you’re not okay, Izuku,” Inko mumbled as the door shut.

Of course, it was just his luck that Midoriya walked out before Bakugou. He learned that once his face hit the pavement. “Don’t walk in front of me. You’re just a Deku,” he hissed, nearly missing Midoriya’s hand when his foot hit the ground. “S-sorry, Kaachan,” Midoriya muttered weakly, standing up and brushing the dirt off of his school uniform. The rest of the walk was silent, up until Bakugou’s ants joined his picnic. Of course the first thing that they did was make fun of Midoriya walking behind Bakugou like an abandoned puppy. They continued to mock him until their ringleader told them to shut up. That was one of the perks- never thought that he would get to call it that- of being bullied by Bakugou. Despite being an asshole, he was the only one who really had half a chance to be a pro hero. As they approached the school, the wannabes hid behind the gate to try and scare him. “First things first, learn to whisper. I could hear you from a mile away. Second, such a childish prank wouldn’t work on me anyway. Step up your game,” Midoriya walked away after exposing them as the idiots that they were. Of course, that was only going to make their input worse. Nonetheless, he had to get to class before the bell rang.

Barely making it, Midoriya sat down in his seat. The teacher gave them a free study session so long as they were quiet. It was most likely for Midoriya’s sake as he set up a baracade of knowledge. The room was full of whispers, but he could block those out easily. However, one sound stood above the rest. He tried to block it out; he tried to ignore it. The laughing in the background mixed with the pen hitting the desk and his anger bubbles over the sides. Midoriya jolted up, throwing his pencil with horrifying accuracy. The weapon landed directly next the hand that forced those unwanted memories into his head, and the room went quiet. All eyes were on Midoriya leaning over his desk with his arm extended. His detection skills increased tenfold in the Doctor’s lab, because he could never see where the bastard was coming from. “Midoriya,” you could physically hear the shock in the teacher’s voice, “I would like to see you after class.” “Yes, sir,” Midoriya replied as he stood up to get his pencil that was sticking out of the kid’s desk. He grabbed the pencil so quickly that the kid beside it flinched. Quickly immersing himself in his studies once more, Midoriya blocked out the whispers. Even more of them were about him, but he couldn’t care less. He studied until fifteen minutes before the end of class when the teacher told him to wait in the hallway. The teacher cracked the door just enough to the point where he could hear the class, but not enough to where the whole conversation was into the open. The two students that stuck the closest to Bakugou crept up to the door. Since being insulted by Midoriya was the lowest that you could get, they wanted revenge; they needed material. Bakugou, while he wanted to know as well, would never stoop that low. He also knew that they would jump in so that he didn’t have to. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything? There’s nothing else that you could tell the authorities? I understand that your experience was traumatic, but violence is still not acceptable,” the teacher began with stuck up sympathy. “Sorry,” a lie, “All I remember is the darkness and the sound of him tapping his pen to his clipboard,” the truth- ish. It wasn’t the whole truth, but he wasn’t quite lying. He just left out the dirty details of the pain that he felt laying on that cold metal table. The two students behind the door raced to their seats that they had moved near Bakugou for the self study. “Dude, wherever he was, it was not a hospital,” “A traumatic experience? What the hell happened?” they went back and forth. “Who cares what happened? He’s just a Deku,” Bakugou complained, curious himself but unwilling to admit it.

Once the bell rang, the tasteless trio tracked Midoriya down to a staircase. The two weaker evils tried to convince Bakugou to push Midoriya down the stairs, but he declined quoting, “I wouldn’t get into UA if that Deku ratted me out. He’s to chicken to rat me out for bullying him, but, if he needs hospital care, that falls on my record.” Of course, Bakugou wasn’t anywhere close to liking Midoriya, but the dude pushed him out of the way when a car tried to hit him. Worse, who knows what happened after that? “Don’t you idiots think of it either; it’s a stupid idea,” Bakugou tried to warn them, but a slam proved their idiocy above everything else. Midoriya was practically in a pile at the bottom of his stairs. It was quite obvious that he hit hit head, judging by the way he clutched it. Three faces stared in shock and awe, but his only reaction was to count to ten. He waved his fingers in front of his face a bit, but then he stood up and continued walking like nothing happened. The worst part? The smile on his face wasn’t there when he was at the top of the stairs. Midoriya was overjoyed by the throbbing in his skull. The pain was just enough to ground him, but it wasn’t overwhelming. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at the fact that this was real and he wasn’t going to open his eyes and be strapped to a table again. Of course his smile didn’t help the deviants stop, even Bakugou was outwardly curious.

Classes went on as usual. Midoriya grabbed his head every now and then when he moved too quickly, but he was still his meek, cowardly self working on stupid fucking homework. Once the lunch bell rang, opportunity arose. Thing One took left, Thing Two took right, and Bakugou cornered Midoriya. “Where the fuck were you for those two weeks, Deku?” Bakugou boomed; he didn’t even need his quirk. “Why do you care?” Midoriya stealthy dodged the question. “I don’t, but-” Bakugou began, of course he wasn’t going to let any concern for Midoriya show, “Then don’t ask,” Midoriya abruptly cut him off. “Are you making fun of me?” Bakugou was pissed, and his quirk was activated. Midoriya flinched while the other two backed away. The green haired boy backed up until he couldn’t get any closer and slid down the wall. The blanant fear on Midoriya’s face was enough to make Bakugou halt. He didn’t care what Midoriya did as long as he knew that the nerd was below him. “Whatever. I’m fucking out,” he shortly stormed off, his two goons followed quickly beside him. Bakugou was always careful not to leave any physical marks; emotional abuse didn’t get enough rep for him to be reprimanded for it. Fear was all he needed. “Dude, we didn’t get any answers,” one said as if Bakugou didn’t know. “I don’t fucking care,” he did fucking care. A ways back, Midoriya slowly stood up, his legs shaking violently. He couldn’t afford any more damage, not when he had to visit the Doctor today. Lunch seemed to end in an instant, and classes went on as usual. Bakugou didn’t target Midoriya too much for the rest of the day.

Midoriya’s mood visibly sunk as the day was moments from ending; it was time.


	5. Going Back

The Doctor called Kurogiri to pick up Midoriya from school to bring him to the League of Villains’ lair. The young boy was told to wait in the classroom for the same shadow that took him home, and that was what he did. Midoriya watched the kids flood out of the classroom. He and Bakugou locked eyes in a knowing glance. Of course, there was no way that Bakugou would take no for an answer. Midoriya desperately clawed his brain for a reason as to why he never left the classroom. He lowkey hoped that Bakugou would get bored after a while and leave without him, but it was all that he had. Bakugou was super suspicious of Midoriya; he had been hiding things all day, and it didn’t sit well with Bakugou that he never got the answer that he was looking for. He went back to the classroom after waiting until all of the students flooded out. When a teacher asked what he was doing, he simply claimed that he had left a book in the classroom. What was that little shit going to do? Wait in the classroom until he got bored? He’d go to the classroom himself before then. Just as he got to the classroom, he felt an ominous air. He was right about to call out to the green haired nerd. The boy stood awkwardly with his gaze shifting from the window to his clock. A practically perfect Midoriya sized hole appeared in front of the boy, and hesitation was heavy on Midoriya’s face. Black as night, it swallowed him entirely. Bakugou could only watch in shock as it disappeared right before his eyes. What had that nerd gotten into?

Midoriya stopped out into an alleyway that led to a quaint looking bar. The small boy stepped into the bar with a less than confident, “Hello?” The few customers looked at him as if he was the dirt on the bottom of their shoes, but the man behind the bar pointed his eyes at a seat. Midoriya knew that everyone here wanted a piece of him, so he feigned confidence and walked to the bar. “Who’s the runt?” a guy with far too many hands grumbled. The man made of the same black flames that brought Midoriya to this hellhole answered, “This is the Doctor’s newest toy.” Anyone who was looking at him quickly turned away. The Doctor was a bonafide sadist; nobody wanted anything to do with him, and anybody who could withstand his treatment was clearly no one to be messed with. Speak of the devil, the Doctor walking in and immediately recognized Midoriya’s puffy green locks. He raced forward like a child raced towards their friend that they hadn’t seen in a while. His arms were outstretched, but Midoriya recognized his footsteps. Quickly grabbing a knife that was on the counter, he whipped around just as the Doctor was about to embrace him. “I’m only here to keep my mother out of this. I am not your friend, and, from what I’ve seen, neither is anyone else in here. Don’t pretend like we’re friends you sadistic piece of shit. I’m only here for whatever torture you plan to dish out, so keep your hands off of me and get it over with,” Midoriya threatened. His eyes were originally comparable seafoam, but, in that moment, they were staring into the depths of an oceanic cavern. 

The Doctor let out a pout, of sorts, and placed his briefcase on the counter in front of Midoriya. Since the kid publicly embarrassed him, he planned on publicly embracing the kid. Rather than taking Midoriya into his lab, the Doctor readied the shot at the bar. The crowd collectively released a silent gasp, now shaming themselves for reacting. Quite a few leaned in to watch how well the kid took the pain. Midoriya hissed as the needle stabbed his throat. His breath caught in his throat when the liquid entered his bloodstream. His upper body fell onto the bar counter, but he refused to show weakness. The poison felt like a thunderstorm with acid rain running through his vein system. His body trembled, but he forced a smile on his face. After a short sputter of coughs, he laughed. If there was one thing that he was going to do, he would ruin this for the Doctor. Whispers echoed throughout the crowd; Midoriya had won. “What’s this Doctor? Have your medicines gotten weaker?” a big burly man walked up. He was the type that wore leather jackets and started bar fights. The Doctor was livid at this point. “If they’re so weak, why don’t you try one?” He held up his briefcase and showed the vials in sets of two, each matching neon color a different mixture. He took the one beside the empty container and readied the shot. The man sat down on the stool one away from Midoriya. His grin was as wide as his face, and everybody waited with impatience. If the Doctor’s poisons were weaker, they had no need for him and could take him out. The Doctor carefully pushed the needle into the other man’s neck, despite wanting to shove it without regards to where it landed. The other had no reaction to the needle, but, the moment the liquid touched his blood, he freaked. His smile dropped, now turning into a fit of coughing. He gasped for breath helplessly as his body fell flat on the floor. He didn’t just shake; he had a full on seizure. All faces dropped as they dawned on the realization of just how strong this kid was. While the man on the floor had foam coming from his mouth, Midoriya stepped over his corpse, albeit weakly, and grabbed the container of darts. “Anyone want to throw a round? I’ve never played, but I’ve always wanted to,” his cheerful smile turned the atmosphere as cold as the corpse on the floor would be by the time anyone found it. The Doctor was now more confident in their fear of him, but he was still upset that they feared the kid more. The black flame in human form, Kurogiri as Midoriya learned, offered him a drink, non-alcoholic, and a lesson on darts that he happily accepted. Once he got the concept, his accuracy was stunning.

Time ticked on as daylight slowly sunk, and his mom would be wondering where he was by now. Since Kurogiri was busy with cocktails, Midoriya asked the weird hand guy, Tomura Shigaraki, for directions to the street. After he gave the directions, Shigaraki asked Midoriya a hopeful question. “You’re pretty interesting, you know that? How would you like to join the League of Villains?” unfortunately, Midoriya declined that offer faster than an old credit card at a store. “I’m not joining your stupid club, but thanks for the directions,” Midoriya called back while walking out. He drew a quick map in his notebook in case he ever needed it. After following the winding curves, he arrived at a familiar street and followed it home. He scanned the streets for an excuse. Perfect! Some stupid limited edition All Might drink, as if the hero had anything to do with lemonade of different shades. He picked one up and paid for it, coming up with the lame excuse that he absolutely had to have one, but couldn’t find it. Inko would buy that, right? Of course she would, he would add some dumb speech about how cool All Might was. He walked along the streets causally itching the new hole in his neck as he approached his house. He should have picked up band-aids from the convenience store. Whoops. Nonetheless, he pulled his collar up higher to hide it and walked in.

Poor Inko was worried sick when Izuku showed up late. She hugged him while he apologized profusely. He held up the lemonade as if it was a get out of jail free card. She let out a half laugh. To her, that drink was proof that her baby boy was back, even if it was a lie. The night was quiet, calm, one could almost say peaceful.


	6. Tragedy

Midoriya spent most of his time training at the bar while convincing his mother that he had made friends. He learned makeup and self defense pretty quickly, as well as the ability to completely disappear from the human eye. He stopped putting his points into optimism and charm and put them into more important places like strength, agility, and stealth. He got a lot better at avoiding Bakugou as well as lying to his mother. He wasn’t too proud of the lying to his mom, but he did what he had to do to keep the truth from being revealed. He dug out what must have been his dad’s old workout equipment and began using it on the side. A lot of things started happening. Ironically, being abducted by the Doctor was one of the best things to happen to him. Who knew that small, weak, nerdy Izuku Midoriya fit in with thugs the best. Of course, he still had to endure the Doctor’s poisons, but he usually spent half an hour throwing darts to help ease the boredom.

Two, almost three, weeks passed without incident. Nobody ever found out that Midoriya was hanging out in the back alleyways with the drug dealers and murderers. If he ever needed a hit man, he knew who to call. The back alley guys never judged Midoriya, because they were judged themselves. Whether it be a less than savory mindset or a villainous quirk, they knew discrimination never wanted to see it again. Things were looking to shaping up. The guys had a fake firm that he’d get a bogus job at when he actually did drugs. Sure, sugar busts aren’t the best way to make money, but it was that or a hit man. He no longer idolized heroes, but he still kept track of them for fun. One in particular happened to fly across his radar. It was a newbie, nothing special, nothing knew. He had a classic, half decent bulk up quirk, but what put him on the list happened one weekend while Inko and Izuku were shopping. The markets weren’t too full, just some nice church folk out for some post sermon shopping. Of course that is until a petty purse thief shows up. Oh no, better call in the big guns, he might go for the briefcases next. What better for the job than a c-listed newbie with a track record of destruction. Clearly, everybody knows where this is going…

Inko laughed buoyantly at the silly joke that Izuku made. The two walked together while Izuku carried the groceries. The yell, “My purse! He stole my purse,” was quite far from them at the time, but Izuku attracted danger like a magnet so it was only a matter of time until the clock struck midnight. The thief was quick, zipping down the roads like a car. The hero, however, was not. He was a tank: slow and bulky, but good at hitting… everything within proximity to it. Izuku readied up a punchline as the got closer and closer. Once the chase was a block behind, Izuku looked back to Inko frozen in fear. Without the purple purse, you could barely tell the hero from the villain. Honestly, they looked like a villain duo racing down the streets. “Izuku!” Inko called out her son’s name as he stopped to look at her. The bulked hero had knocked over a light post as he tumbled through the streets. The base was far enough away that Izuku was unhurt, but the bright bulbs left blood trickling down Inko’s head. “Mom!” it was a cry barely heard over the destruction. He rushed back towards her. Her head was covered in shards of glass, as was the area around her. It was a wonder that she wasn’t knocked out from the pole or the pain. Thankfully, if you could even say that, she was only hit by the light rather than the post, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to make it. Her eyes were closing slowly, getting harder to open each time they fell. She could barely hear Izuku called out to her over the white noise and buzzing. His words were fuzzy, as was his face, the final time she opened her eyes. He was right there beside her, clutching her close with tears water falling down his eyes. “I love you, Izuku, and I’ll always be your number one fan,” she choked out her final words before dying in Izuku’s arms. His sobs shook his entire body as he held hers close. There it was: rock bottom. He had no friends, and he had just lost his only family. The so called hero returned to the area, walking back to give the lady her purse. “Hey kiddo, you okay?” He approached Izuku slowly. The green haired boy smacked his hand away before it could touch his shoulder. “Don’t ducking touch me!” his voice echoed the streets as he continued, “Haven’t you ever heard of power input? If you can’t control your quirk that much you shouldn’t even be a hero!” He set his mother down and turned back to the hero, “Haven’t you ever been taught how to properly use your surroundings? Why don’t I just knock over this fucking lamp post trying to turn a corner! You never entrust your full weight onto something that wouldn’t be able to hold it. Your muscle mass is twice that of that twig pole, if not more! Why the fuck would it be a good idea to swing around it? You wasted more time than you would have just turning the corner like a normal fucking person! You are not fast, typically strength based people aren’t; you were fully capable of turning that corner without the use of the lamp post! Think before you act, you dumbass,” he finished his rant and sat back with his mom, tears never drying in the slightest. The “hero” stood baffled in the streets, not daring to even approach the kid. He slunk back down the path to return the purse to the owner.

The paramedics came to retrieve Inko’s body shortly later. She was pronounced dead on scene. Midoriya overheard the adults arguing about what would happen to him. Foster care was the most likely answer. He slipped into the back alleys and quickly routed his way around. He had no curfew and a few things to take care of. Although he didn’t want to recall the memories, he recognized a brick type that he had seen before. Walking around the building, it had no doors, no windows, and, seemingly, no entrance. However, he knew different. It took a bit of time, but he found the trigger.

He slipped out of the building covered in many new scents and began the journey to his destination. He threw open the door to the bar, igniting a look of pure horror onto the faces of everyone there. “I change my mind about your stupid club. I want in. I even brought a little offering,” he held up the Doctor’s head. “He left all of his notes, so I’ll be taking his place,” he announced to the shocked crowd. “What’s with the sudden change of heart?” Kurogiri asked in Tomura’s steed. “I want revenge.”


	7. No Looking Back

“So, what’s your code name, Shrimp?” one of the bar regulars called out. He was another merc deal and one of the cooler people that hung out at the bar. “I’ll go with Deku,” Midoriya sneered in violent distaste for where the name came from. “Really? We could think of something better,” he gestured to a few fellow mercs before continuing, “You’re setting yourself up for failure with a name meaning useless...” Midoriya laughed, “But that’s the point.” He started speaking to the whole bar with his next words. “We are outcasts, shamed from society. Mistreated, abused, abandoned, forgotten, and left to die. Giving ourselves empowering names is letting them win! Sure, with a name that strikes fear, you can be seen as a winner, but they labeled us losers. That’s why we’re here! I want to make it known that they saw me as useless, just to see the look on their face when they learn what I have become!” he laughed, imagining the look on Bakugou’s face when he saw what Midoriya had the power to do; when he witnessed what Midoriya had the power to become. Kaachan was right, he was no hero.

He left the bar shortly after that, returning to what used to be his home. Kurogiri offered to clean out the supply closet for full time living, but it would take a bit to reposition all of the junk left in it. He arrived at the old house and quietly slipped in. News of his mom’s death wouldn’t reach the neighborhood for a short while, so he could still cut on the light. He began to set a few things aside so that he could pack them up when he got back from school tomorrow. He took a shower to wash the blood off of him, lathering in enough shampoo to drown Shamu trying to get the smell off. He took a deep breath, realizing that this was his last night in this house. He flopped onto his bed, looking at all of the All Might posters that littered his walls. Crying for the second time that night, his life hit him. Betrayal swelled in his chest as he remembered those words that his hero had told him. His mom was the only one that believed in him, and now she was gone. Once again, sobs rippled his body, but, this time, they didn’t stop until he fell asleep.

He woke up feeling like he got hit by a car again, but, like last time, he rolled out of bed and got ready. Putting on his uniform, he made a quick breakfast and walked out the door. Thankfully, he left long before Bakugou, or so before him that they never ran into each other. He got to school a lot earlier than most kids, but those that were there spared no glances. He went to the bathroom to clean up his face, as it was still puffy from last night. Shaded bags began to form under his eyes due to all of the sleep that he had been missing lately. Nonetheless, he began towards the classroom as to not be late. Class was nothing as he drowned out all of the noise. The idle chatter of students trying to get in their weekend gossip before the teacher began the lecture. “Midoriya,” the teacher was shocked seeing the green haired boy in his seat after what had happened yesterday. He let out a ‘hm’ looking up at the teacher. “Are you okay?” Midoriya only nodded, breaking eye contact and ending the conversation. Whispers and murmurs echoed throughout the room. Some people understood, but others didn’t. Clearing his throat, the teacher got everyone’s attention and began doing his job. Midoriya zoned the lesson out, staring out the window.

Once class ended, a few kids had the guts to walk up to Midoriya. “We’re sorry for your loss,” they lied directly to his face, quite scared by what happened next. “Oh, yes, poor Midoriya! He doesn’t have a quirk, and now he doesn’t even have parents! Let’s pretend to care about his sad, worthless life to see if we can get him to cry. Let’s console the kid, because we’ve done such a good job of it up until now! What do you gain pretending to pity me? Absolutely nothing. Now leave me the hell alone,” he snapped, shocking the classroom. “Oi, Deku, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” whether it was an insult or a genuine inquiry, Midoriya didn’t care. “What? Is there only allowed to be one bad mouthed asshole in this classroom?” he retorted, all sense of fear gone. Bakugou slammed his hands on the desk so loudly that it was a wonder how he didn’t break it. The teacher walked in and yelled at them, forcing Bakugou to sit down. The classroom was deadly quiet as silence choked all of the students. Midoriya’s eyes were cold and terrifying unlike they’d ever been before. Even the teacher had a hard time speaking in that heavy atmosphere.

It was around lunch time when Kurogiri contacted Midoriya. All of the students were at the cafeteria, except Midoriya who stayed behind. He sat in the window so that Kurogiri could place the portal in the right place. The students were due to return to class any minute now. Bakugou was the lucky first; he walked into the room just as Midoriya looked out the window. Standing on the ledge, he turned around, “Goodbye, Kaachan,” his last words were but at whisper as he took the first step off of the ledge. Of course, he made sure that Kurogiri’s portal was there first; he wasn’t dying until he got his revenge. He was transported, first, to his house. Grabbing his things, he left a note to Mitsuki Bakugou, Katsuki’s mother and Inko’s best friend. He said his goodbyes and left his mom’s things in her care. He undid his bed and packed it up with a decent amount of his own clothing. He scooped up his hero analysis books as well as the blank compositions that he had. Other than that, he grabbed a few non perishable snacks, and let Kurogiri know that he was done.

The League of Villains hideout was a rowdy little bar, with a quaint kid sleeping in the supply closet. Midoriya set up a small cot with the pillows and blankets that he brought from the house. He placed his tacky shirts on the shelves and tidied up his things before he went back to the bar area. He sat on a stool and let out a sigh of sorts, “I’m home.” Kurogiri smiled, unbeknownst to the crowd, and replied, “Welcome home.”


	8. Rise Of Deku

Days passed as Midoriya took on bounties as Deku. He was mostly in charge of information and medicine, but murder came up occasionally. He was quickly accepted into the League like it was nothing, since he had spent months with them beforehand. He made drinks as well as poison and was a favorite behind the bar. Not very often, but sometimes he would get a drug request from on of the mercs. They established a bond with him that they never would have with the Doctor. While his missions weren’t the most important, they were good practice. Today he was getting information from a janitor at UA. Deku put on his uniform, the one that he only wore during work, and walked into the room with the poor fellow who just wanted a decent job. He tied his tie neatly and slipped the mask over his face before he walked in.

“So, you work at UA, is that correct?” Deku sneered, walking in a heavy circle around the blindfolded worker. The clacking of footsteps in otherwise dead silence was terrifying: it was something Deku had learned when he had been in those shoes. “Y-yeah, I’m the janitor,” realized his situation quickly after he said that. UA was practically impenetrable, and he was dealing with someone who wanted in. “I don’t do anything though! I just wipe down tables, clean the bathrooms-” he was cut off by Deku, “Sweep the halls?” Even something as simple as the hallway layout was valuable for a break in. “Y-yeah? What does that have to do with anything?” clearly this dude didn’t see what he was getting at. “So, tell me, which hallways are the dirtiest?” the switch to good cop was instant, “Those high school students are always so reckless, and they create messes so easily! I’ll bet they don’t give you any credit, either,” Deku smiles as he plucked all of the right strings. “They don’t! Do you know how messy the entrance always is?” the janitor began to ramble as Deku sketched out every detail that he heard. From how the hallways connecting the training rooms always being sweaty and trash from the cafeteria always being carried to the classroom hallways, Midoriya wrote everything down. He easily weaseled tidbits out with playful banter. The hallway connecting x to y was never just that singular hallway; he smoothly blended his words to learn that x was connected to y, and they connected to z. In short time, he even got a few details about events. The janitor was all too eager to groan about how hard the dorms were going to be to clean after Class 1-A participated in the USJ training. He complained about how Thirteen was so eager to help clean up rubble at a violent scene, but never bothered to help with the places that all of the dirt was tracked afterwards. However, one name stood out, All Might. This bastard was complaining about All Might. Deku grinned with the knowledge that All Might would be training with Class 1-A durning their USJ. Tomura would be pleased. Once the janitor was done with any useful knowledge, Deku stabbed a petite needle into his neck. The murky, pink fluid was one he like to call ‘Amnesia,’ for obvious reasons. Once the janitor passed out, Deku took the honors of dumping him in an alleyway near where he was when they picked him up. He would have no recollection of his betrayal.

After relaying the information to Tomura, Deku was needed again. Midoriya suited up, not in vest and tie, but in ragged clothing and disheveled makeup. His target was a man who had a purification quirk, so Amnesia couldn’t do her job. He was no doubt going to report the fiasco to the police. Unfortunately he wasn’t as useful as they would have liked, he could null any of Deku’s mixes and he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for Deku’s tricks. However, he was the one who dropped the janitor’s name, and he was helpful enough for the both of them. Deku wasn’t allowed to use knives during torture because a handful of his victims bled out… Of course, he knew that physical wounds weren’t explainable and, if too many people died, they’d realize something was up. However, some people needed a painful push! He couldn’t help it! Nonetheless, he hurried throughout the streets, ranting only to his inner self. As he peered out to the streets, he saw the man. He pulled the half tattered blanket over his shoulders even more to hide the blades concealed on their inner side. Deku positioned the blanket so that a part of his arm that had been hit by a quirk in battle was showing. Often abuse victims hide their scars, which made him more pitiable and believable. The man was a saint, of course he’d fall for a small freckled boy with dirt in his hair crying, “Mister! Mister! You’re the one I saw on tv, right? With the purification quirk? Please come quick, my sister is very sick. I don’t think she’ll make it through the night!” he, of course, believed it. Adding the icing on the cake, “Please, she’s all I have left,” he begged. Even if helping this kid was the last thing that he wanted to do, eyes peered at him awaiting his answer. “Sure, where is she?” he couldn’t turn down Midoriya’s superior acting. Deku led the man into the alleyways, since he looked like a street rat it wasn’t suspicious, and down a few curves. Far away from society, he led the man to a dead end. He was confused and began looking around. Faux fear filled the air, “She was just here! Where could she have gone?” Deku cried, waiting for the man to turn around. Once he did, Deku lunged. He jumped off of the wall to reach the tall man’s neck. Wrapping it in a headlock, Deku grabbed a knife and inserted it into the man’s lungs. His screams died each time Deku took out the knife and shoved it between his ribs once more. Deku wasted no time hopping off of the man as his body fell to the floor. Deku took the broken blanket off of his head and scanned it for any loose hairs. He tore his shirt into tiny pieces before he carried all of the remnants to a nearby dumpster. He slung the body over his shoulder, careful not to get blood on any of his surroundings, or himself for that matter.

He became a master of the back alleyways in the time that he spent with the League; Midoriya slipped past people with ease. Despite standing out like a sore thumb, he was never spotted by anybody. He avoided the sleazy streets and was careful not to go anywhere near official roads. Once he arrived back at the bar, he threw the bloodily blade into the counter. “The target’s disposed of, you know, the one who wanted to rat us out. Just in time, too, he was almost to the station. You guys never give me any time to work!” he went from announcing to complaining at the drop of a hat. “Where’s your shirt?” Shigaraki felt the need to complain this time; it didn’t sit well with him that a kid was more fit than him. Midoriya hated shirts, especially after working. He was decently buff with mostly lean muscle, like an acrobat rather than a football player. However, shirts always stuck to his skin uncomfortably, so he avoided them at any opportune moment. Shigaraki didn’t like it because he never wore them in the bar. “In the trash,” Midoriya replied simply, irritating Shigaraki. The man brushed it off, changing the topic with a swift, “We have a plan to take down All Might.”


	9. Stirring Up

Shigaraki started explaining the USJ plan to Midoriya the moment he sat down. Of course, his role in all of this was to watch the bar, but... Midoriya, actually, quite enjoyed watching the bar. He loved beating the shit out of people who didn’t listen. Night fell quickly from the grey evening, and Midoriya went to his ‘room’ to get comfortable. Rather than sleep, he shuffled through notes and mixed up a few more deadly concoctions to add to his collection. This one in particular was one that he quite enjoyed: a quirk remover. By altering the blood, surely there was a way to negate a quirk, right? He loved studying herbs and ways that they could be used, especially alongside chemicals. Midoriya’s bed, well cot, was tempting him with rest. However, it wasn’t until he began testing a sleeping gas that he actually fell asleep.

When he awoke, he cleaned up his desk and went to work. Tomura, Kurogiri, and a few lower grunts were in the back room strategizing about the USJ raid. Midoriya didn’t even bother with his tie as he walked behind the bar. They opened pretty early for a bar, offering decently priced pick me up drinks, like Bloody Marys. It was never too early to drown out the world, though. He began setting up, writing the brunch specials on the chalkboard, wiping down the counters, and cleaning up the sitting area. He walked outside to unlock the door and was met by some people already outside. “We need a few special drinks,” Deku knew exactly what that was, “Depends on your side effects.” Since the bar was literally the bases for the League of Villains offers like this weren’t uncommon. That was another one of the reasons that the bar opened early: last minute murders. He led them into the establishment and over to the bar. “So, what are we looking at?” Deku grinned, admittedly sending shivers down the buyer’s backs. “My wife is cheating on me with a guy from another gang. I want to take out her and her boytoy,” the main man hissed. “I can create an aphrodisiac that will destroy her internal organs. The aphrodisiac would insinuate what I can only compare to an omega’s heat, like a burning. If you can spike their drinks and keep them in a room together, the magic should take affect,” Deku explained, but stopped to cut the man off, “Their ejaculations would be acidic. Whoever loses, dies. They will both die eventually, but sex speeds up the process.” His gang nodded, silently agreeing to this plan. “What’s your price?” of course, money was always a factor. “It’s one of the more expensive ones, since it’s harder to make, but it’s also the most torturous. I have a few that are cheaper, however the effects aren’t quite as satisfying,” Deku purred, manipulation was his forte. “She did break your heart, right?” he put the cake in the oven with that one; the guy loved his wife, and she ripped his heart in half. He wanted revenge. Deku listed a price that seemed reasonable while causally extorting more than he needed. After getting the okay, Deku moved to the closet… his room. He moved to his room and began mixing hot sauce into cake mix. He started with a simple aphrodisiac before he began mixing up the drug. Combining them was a reasonably simple task as long as it was done carefully. Up front payment was given in exchange for the mixture as well as the details of a payment plan. “Every day you miss is another day that you’re stuck in my lab, so be sure to pay on time, okay?” Deku threatened, doing a damn good job of it. The man almost regretted doing business with the kid, but what was done was done. He and his buddies bought a beer for the road and were off. Midoriya, now alone in the empty bar, put on some music before partaking in miscellaneous bar chores.

The sun was shining brightly as the villains set out to the USJ training. Shigaraki brought a Nomu that Midoriya had named ‘Brick,’ short for Brick Brain. Yes, it was a terrible name; everybody knew that it sucked, but Midoriya didn’t care. Brick was known as one of the slower Nomu, being the first generation, there were still a few kinks to work out. Working with the Doctor and being generally into science, it was no wonder Midoriya was asked to help with the creations. Deku trained them to be soldiers. They would follow his commands easily. Shigaraki, though he wouldn’t admit it, was jealous of the way the kid could handle Nomu. He claimed that naming them was the key, but Shigaraki called bull every time, saying that it was stupid. Nonetheless, Midoriya said goodbye to Brick Brain the first Nomu, and waited until the bar picked up. He had quite anticipated the battle ending poorly. He just hoped that Brick Brain made it out alive. Their plan banked on the fact that All Might was not as strong as he used to be. That information was correct, but he was slowly deteriorating. Of course good ol Brick Brain is not going to be enough to take down All Might. His power wasn’t not going to go away in a day, but Shigaraki was a brat and wouldn’t listen- not that Midoriya tried, he just kept his thoughts to himself. Shigaraki was hilarious when he was upset. He knew very well that he would have to run the bar well into the evening due to them recuperating.

The bar picked up about halfway into the raid. Rowdy customers began to start a fight about something stupid. Deku wiped the bar counter and looked over the sea of drunk toddlers with muscle to spare. He didn’t bother trying to calm them down verbally before he launched himself over the counter and kicked a heavyset dude in the jaw. The guy fell, but his grip on the other man’s collar was solid. They both hit the floor while Deku’s feet landed on the table beside them. He spun around in an instant and threw two throwing knives at the girl sneaking up to the bar. It was a classic decoy-bar-fight robbery. You would think that nobody would be stupid enough to try and rob the League of Villains’ hideout, but some people were dull knives in the crayon box. However, that wasn’t their full plan. Deku jumped, avoiding the other person diving at his legs. He was the target; drug dealers like Deku were sitting on pretty cash. With a timed stomp, Deku crushed that person’s shoulder. He quickly jumped off of the table as soon a man twice his size lunged for him. All of the bar regulars huddled away from the five, now four, on one fight. It wasn’t because they didn’t believe in Deku; they knew that he tended to get a bit messy with his fights. The person with the crushed shoulder fell to the ground, clutching their bicep in agony. Deku had heavy weights on both of his legs that gave his kicks more power. The girl tried to use her quirk, the ability to secrete an aphrodisiac, but Deku was immune to such a weak stimulant. Unfortunately for her, she relied so heavily on her quirk that beating her in combat was easy; a quick temple shot and she was out cold. The two that faked the fight were charging at him, two weak fire quirk users. Their hands were the only body parts that they could ignite, so Deku dodged each punch with grace. Compared to Deku, who had been up against speed boost quirks in fights before, they were nothing. He slipped out two blades and plunged them into the chests of his attackers. Quickly ripping the blades out, Deku grinned as their blood splattered in the floor. He groaned, realizing that he would have to clean that up. Oh well. Finally, he was one on one with the big guy. Said guy was the type to rely on power rather than skill, so he wouldn’t be a good match for an experienced fighter like Deku. His beginning move was a classic right hook; it was easy to dodge, and, with his open stance, easy to counter. Deku slipped past his giant fist and threw an uppercut to his jaw. The opponent stumbled stunned; few people has ever managed to land a blow on him, yet this kid just easily overcame his signature move. Deku grinned at the look of shock in the other’s eyes. A sock in the jaw was all he ever needed to knock a person out, but his fights never lasted past that. Deku quickly gained the upper hand. He twisted, using his opponent’s dazed state to his advantage, and braced his hands on a table to gain height on the kick that he threw. The moment his foot collided with the man’s face, the fight was over. The large, now limp, body had slammed against the wall, skull shaking against the immovable brick foundation. He huffed as his feet hit the ground. Immediately after the fights was over, Midoriya began the cleanup. He picked the bodies up one by one and carried them to a corner of the bar labeled “Corner Of Shame.” None of his blows were fatal, but he patched the unconscious people up before he went to bar clean up. “Hey, Squirt, once you’re done with that can I get a beer?” one of the regulars called with a grin.

It was no surprise when Shigaraki got back from the USJ raid disgruntled and pouting like the giant man-child he was. Of course All Might was dwindling, his power was slowly fading, but good ol Brick Brain was not nearly enough to take down the Symbol of Peace. Midoriya tried his best not to laugh as Shigaraki sulked through the bar to the get to the back room. Once he was in though, giggles erupted from behind the bar. As they dwindled in short time, Deku turned to Kurogiri, who was now helping him behind the bar, “What was the count?” The casualty count: essential to every mission. This included anyone lost to the authorities, crippled, and, of course, those who actually died. “Brick did not make it out,” Kurogiri knew that was what the kid was asking. Midoriya didn’t care about a group of wannabe villains; Brick Brain was the only one he was actually concerned about. Deku blew up, “What? Why? Not Brick Brain!” sneers echoed the bar. They weren’t so much of sneers, but that was just how the weirdos that the bar gathered laughed. “He was blown away by All Might. We didn’t have enough time to search for him...” Kurogiri was sympathetic to the kid, but caring about an anthropomorphic creation was kind of stupid. “Deku!” a name he was rarely called outside of business, “You have your next assignment.”


	10. Spectation

His goal was to infiltrate the UA Sports Festival. Being, both, the most casual as well as the most observative, this was a mission meant for him. Deku already knew all of the background checks that they ran to get into the event, as well as all of the security features that the stadium had; it paid to be a UA fanboy. As a kid, he had always wanted to watch the event live. Funny how life worked.

While waiting for the day to come, he rounded up a couple books of basic information on all of the students. He had their past achievements and fighting styles in one page next to a blank page where he was going to write their growth rate and new fighting styles. He carried a small hero backpack with him with the UA student books, snacks, drinks, and a blanket, because he got cold easily. He wore a simple hoodie that said “jacket” on the cover and a pair of grey pants. He had to sneak in, since the risk of someone seeing one of Kurogiri‘s gates was too high. He slipped into a seat near an escape route just as President Mic began announcing the entering classes. Immediately, Midoriya recognized Bakugou in the crowd. He cringed inwardly when it was vocalized that Bakugou would make the opening statement. “I’m going to win,” it wasn’t an announcement, it was a threat, a challenge. Very Bakugou. Admittedly, Midoriya scribbled a bit in his notebook about the unchanged arrogance; he had half a book full of his “childhood friend” already, but that never stopped him from writing down more. Nonetheless, none of the students enjoyed that… However, the first even began shortly after. It was a simple race, avoid all obstacles and pass the finish line. Easy enough. Ha. Midoriya’s eyes darted around rapidly, looking at the fields, looking at the screens, focusing just enough on a student to find their page and verify all of the information. The first column on each page was weakness. He watched as the students fell over themselves, over the obstacles, and over their competition.

It wasn’t too long until the race ended, only fifty people made it past the first round. On all of the cut list, Midoriya wrote ‘failed’ in bright red letters atop the character sheets. Next up was the cavalry battle. It was a show of how well they could work with team members. Boy was it fun to watch Bakugou during the match. Of course, there wasn’t much information in the first two rounds, but the jackpot was coming up next: the one on one battles. Midoriya bookmarked all of the pages of people that had made it this far. Most of them were ones that he had predicted; the main characters were pretty obvious and easy to spot in a crowd. The battles began, and Midoriya kicked into overdrive. All of the people around him witnessed him as he mumbled and scratched lines on the paper furiously. He wrote down all of the obvious matches, such as Mina and Aoyama, to the more balanced matches such as the one between Hitoshi Shinsou and Mashirao Ojiro. Shinsou and Ojiro were on the same cavalry team; the team that had people drop out due to memory loss. The match looked completely one sided in the beginning, but it was almost over in an instant when Ojiro started walking toward the edge of the stadium. Everyone thought that he had lost his mind, partly because he did. From the beginning, it looked like Shinsou’s quirk had no weaknesses, until Ojiro tripped. Once the pain snapped him out of the control, the real fights began. They were about even in strength; Shinsou had seen his share of battles as well. His only downfall was forgetting about Ojiro’s fully mobile extra limb. Nonetheless, it was a good fight. Midoriya also enjoyed Ejiro Kirishima and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Since they had similar quirks, it was a battle of brawn. Iron vs rock: who would win? It was Kirishima, just as Midoriya had predicted. While Tetsutetsu’s quirk had a higher density, Kirishima had more experience and a less a quirk less costly to maintain. 

The final round was approaching steadily. Shouto Todoroki vs Katsuki Bakugou; a much anticipated fight. Midoriya had plenty enough analysis in his book to call it a day, so he left the outer stadium and allowed himself to wander. Ironically, Midoriya actually got lost trying to find the bathrooms during the time. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one. A thud followed by a well known, loud voice; Katsuki Bakugou. He had entered the wrong waiting room and started talking to his opponent. After a short bit of observation, he realized that it was Shouto Todoroki, his final opponent.   
He began ranting the nobody cared about his family situation, which was just Bakugou’s way of trying to cheer him up. Midoriya made a mental note at the fact that Todoroki didn’t use his left side due to a family situation. Midoriya quickly darted out of the way of Bakugou’s gaze. He wanted to confirm what he had witnessed, so Midoriya took the liberty of entering the room that Bakugou left. It wasn’t hard to recognize that multicolored hair; Todoroki Shouto sat shivering in the waiting room due to overuse of his right side. Thankfully, Midoriya had his backpack on him. As someone who, both, got cold easily and didn’t trust his most precious belongings at the bar alone, he had with him a blanket that his mom had given him. It had a black background and the words “#1 Hero” written in the colors of the rainbow on the outside, but the inside just had white block letters that said “You’re my hero.” The blanket meant to world to him, and it was the most comfortable thing ever. However, the broken boy shivering in front of him was more important than a broken piece of himself. He loved the blanket, but it always reminded him of how he was betraying her; even though she supported him as a hero despite… everything, he strayed down the villainous rabbit hole, and now he couldn’t get out. Midoriya wrapped the blanket around Todoroki’s shoulders, trying not to flinch, himself, when the other male did. “You looked cold,” he offered with a warm smile. The boy below him tried to shrug out of the blanket, but Midoriya continued. “I take it you don’t want to use your left side because of your dad,” bingo, Bakugou was right. Todoroki looked away. Midoriya stood beside the boy and began talking before the other had the chance, “He can’t make you feel anything. He cannot force you to become anything. Wearing yourself out by refusing to acknowledge what you inherited from him is only letting him win. It’s your quirk, not his,” Todoroki jolted at this. All his life he had been judged for having his father’s quirk, but this stranger was the first to call it something different. He could only watch in shock as the stranger stood up and walked away with a smile and a wave. “Your blanket!” Todoroki realized too late, as Midoriya was already around the corner. Midoriya had a devious excuse that he could play his care off for, but he gained a genuine excitement for the next match. He had so much written down about Todoroki’s ice powers, but nothing about his fire. What better opponent to have than Bakugou for such a fight?

Midoriya was on his way back to the stadium when who does he run into? Another ‘lost, looking for the bathroom’ heading to the waiting rooms. Was it stupid for Midoriya, a quirkless, villainous weakling to engage a strong pro hero who was literally on fire? Of fucking course not, but all Midoriya could think about was the Todoroki sitting in a waiting room, shivering. The small, forest headed boy looked Endeavor dead in the face and spoke as clear as day, “Parents are there to protect, not perfect.” It was something that his mom told him every time he made a mistake that got himself hurt. The hero was shocked, but any other reaction was too late, as Midoriya already passed him walking towards the stadium.

Settling into his seat, Midoriya reviewed information while he waited for the final round to start. Bakugou and Todoroki walked onto the field, both ready for battle. They were head to head, toe to toe. At one point, Todoroki has Bakugou completely encapsulated in ice, but the brute broke through. The hotheaded time bomb definitely had the upper hand in the current fight; Bakugou was only beginning, despite Todoroki still having whiplash from overuse of his right side. For someone who knew Bakugou as well as Midoriya, it was easy to see that he was playing with his opponent. Bakugou wanted Todoroki to use his left side, but it was to no avail. Explosion after ice shot, but nothing. In the heat of the moment, Todoroki almost threw a left hook, mirroring Bakugou in front of him, but he stopped where Bakugou didn’t. In an instant, both Midoriya and Todoroki were lost. However, only one got up. Midoriya wandered the halls for a secluded space and took a picture to send to Kurogiri. Since everybody was busy with the excitement of it all, there was plenty enough time to warp gate out of the stadium. The results were obvious, and Midoriya wanted nothing more than to sleep.

He strode into the bar and went immediately to the supply closet that he called his room. “I got the information, now I’m going to get some sleep,” he groaned before shutting his door and flopping onto the futon. He didn’t even want to experiment; he just wanted to cry. No more than a year ago, going to that stadium was his dream! He would go and do exactly what he did with his mom right beside him. Better yet, he would be in the dirt, with her watching from the stands as he raced through the course. Now? He was sitting in a supply closet that he called his room. He had just given away the most precious keepsake that he ever owned for a lie. His mom wouldn’t be proud of him; he couldn’t even be proud of himself.


	11. Make New Friends, But Keep The Old

Waking up shivering, Midoriya decided that he needed a new blanket. He rounded up just enough cash to get what he needed, with some to spare of course, but not too much to where it was suspicious. He got dressed in his normal tacky shirt and pants attire, but with a hat for good measure. “Kurogiri, I’m going out,” he called as he tred through the bar. The nod was subtle and hard to see, Kurogiri was basically physical, colorful fire, but Kurogiri clearly nodded back to show his understanding. Midoriya slipped through the alleyways and to the main street. The hat atop his head kept anyone important from recognizing him, and thankfully he didn’t a background I.D. to get a train pass. He was going to buy groceries and a new blanket, but, to do that, he needed to go to a shopping district. A few stops in, he saw an ugly face. It was a member of one of the less loved gangs. He was known for being a pervert and a rapist. He would lure younger kids, usually teens to early twenties, by harassing them in the bus and following them when they get off. Midoriya gagged when he saw the thing practically on top of two high school boys.

Kirishima and Kiminari were going into town to meet up with their friends for lunch. It was a celebration to Bakugou, Todoroki, and Tokoyami for winning the Sports Festival, and for the fact that no one was hospitalized. The two boys wanted to do a bit of exploring before they met up with everyone for food, so they left early. Unfortunately, it would have been much safer to head with the group. The man towered behind them, hands way to close to things that mattered. Both boys were uncomfortable, but there was too many people on the train to make a scene. They tried ignoring it, but he was getting more bold by the minute. Kiminari suggested using their quirks to make him back up, but Kirishima shot it down. Even if it was a pervert, quirk usage was prohibited in public areas. They whispered solutions, desperately trying to pretend that the large, uncomfortable hands weren’t there. It seemed like a miracle when they left. The boys turned back to see a kid, who was around their age, pinning the brute to the floor.

Midoriya didn’t hesitate to yank that bitch down where he stood. He crouched down to the body, one knee on the floor the other on the man’s chest. The look of fear in his eyes was more satisfaction than Midoriya could explain. He hissed just loud enough so that the thug beneath him would hear, but not so much so that it gave away either of their positions. “Get your disgusting self off of this train before I do something about you. This is not your territory. This is my domain and I will not have your slimy trail leading to my area, so here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to get off of this train at the next stop, or I will fill you up with my liquid,” Deku flashed the thin needle of a syringe. The horror on the man’s face said it all. Midoriya stood up, allowing the other to escape. He stayed just within sight, making sure that Deku would see him get off at the next stop. The train pulled up and he bolted.

Kirishima and Kiminari were astounded. Whoever this kid was, he was someone to be feared. While they were shocked that this scrawny, dead eyed kid who was no older than them was terrifying enough to make a grown man, twice their size scared, the two swallowed their fear and went up to thank him. He did save them from embarrassment and possible rape. “Yo, bro! That was super cool and manly! How’d you do that?” Kirishima was the first to start up the conversation. He placed his hand on Midoriya’s shoulder in a friendly way as the doors closed and the train began takeoff again. Kiminari followed up with a cheerful smile and a, “Thanks a lot, that was awesome!” Midoriya froze like a deer in the headlights. He had learned from his past how to fulfill the role of a tormenter, and playing badass was a skill that he had picked up at the bar, but a normal conversation? He had no idea what to do. He gave a sheepish laugh before giving them a response, “It was actually pretty easy, since his center of gravity was off. He was leaning forward, but, since you guys were standing there, I couldn’t push him over. However, it’s just as easy to pull him backwards, once he puts his weight on his back foot, I kicked it from under him. Other than that, all you have to do is be vaguely threatening. They don’t know what you’re capable of. Exploit that,” the art of fight, a language he spoke quite fluently. In his experience, if you can’t carry on a normal conversation, don’t. Both boys were in awe at this kid.

The three sat down on the chairs that opened up after people got off of the train. Kirishima and Kiminari did most of he talking; Midoriya mostly sat between them and added input wherever he was able. The train ride was a decently long one, unlike Midoriya’s conversation, but it wasn’t too far into the ride that he drifted off to sleep. The train tracks sounded like static and that made student’s conversation seem like it was just a television show; it felt like he was watching a movie at midnight was his mom, just like he used to. His head fell to Kirishima’s shoulder as the world faded from existence.

Kirishima almost jumped when he felt hair brush his cheek and a head fell on his shoulder. “Dude,” he called to Kiminari, ignoring any previous commentary, “Dude, he fell asleep.” Kiminari leaned in, confirming what he saw. The green haired kid was dead out. A low voltage shock spanned the short distance as Kiminari poked the boy in his freckled face. “Where do you get off?” it was a very important question, one that thankfully was answered. A sleepy voice answered with the singular word, ‘shopping,’ but it was enough for the boys to know that all three of them were heading to the same place. Kirishima tried activating his quirk and hardening his shoulder, but Midoriya was even more of a rock than the pebbles in the cobblestone path beside the vehicle. Kirishima and Kiminari quite enjoyed the train ride; they bothered the sleeping boy to their hearts content. Kiminari took a picture of the other two before taking a picture with all three of them in it. They both shook the boy awake as they heard their stop being announced as next on the intercom. The boy reluctantly woke just at the right time. The doors opened and boys waved goodbye; Midoriya, who had a set destination, and the two UA students, who were trying to find cool shops near some good food, parted ways as the train left without them.

Midoriya felt a bit stupid for falling asleep so easily, and so heavily for that matter, but what was done was done. He wandered off to find the things on his mental list as time became lost to the oblivion. Afternoon faded to evening as he finished up his shopping. Looking back at the train, he saw a familiar face. Green eyes met red as Katsuki Bakugou blocked out Kirishima and Kiminari’s story. He kept out of his seat and began running towards the figure that saw. “Dude!” Kirishima called aimlessly, but Bakugou was already off the train. The two boys sat back down with everyone that was left and told everyone that he forgot something and would catch the next train. Probably. With heavy emphasis on the probably.

Turning a corner, Bakugou saw him. “Deku?” a breathless pant, almost a question as it left his mouth. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Months of being missing, only to find him in broad daylight. Part of him thought that he was wrong, the Deku he knew was lost, but he wasn’t quite wrong… Until he caught the boy, cornered in an alleyway. Green hair poking out of the expanses of a dull, gray hat; freckles went off like a bomb, spreading across his face; the same tacky clothing style that he wore: this was the ‘Deku’ he knew. The blackened abyss under his eyes; the subtle cuts and bruises from various bar fights; the hollow holes in his eyes where the light was shattered: this was the ‘Deku’ that he didn’t know. Bakugou didn’t even need to call out into the alleyway that he saw the boy turn in; Midoriya beat him to the call, “Hey, Kaachan.” Bakugou froze as if the ground fell from beneath him. Hopelessly sputtering, he tried to find the words to portray his thoughts, “D-Deku?” He became speaking before thinking, “What happened? Where have you been? Why are you here?” questions spitting at the speed of light. “Oh, so you care now?” Midoriya replied sarcastically, clearly taking the other male aback. The ‘Deku’ he knew didn’t talk back or use sarcasm, let alone both. “What happened to you?” the real question. Midoriya only smiled, looking sorrowfully off in the distance. The way he held himself changed drastically, but Bakugou had just now realized. “You just vanished one day! Everybody thinks you’re dead! My mom-” another quick questionnaire, but Midoriya cut him off, “Are you trying to convince me that you care?” his tone was deadpan and flat. Looking Bakugou dead in the eyes, now, he continued, “Mitsuki-san is kind: she would have adopted me, you know that, right? She’s not going to let her best friend’s kid go into the fucked up foster care system. Is that what you wanted? Could you even live if we were in the same house?” he hissed. Acid hot on his tongue, he didn’t give Bakugou even a moment to recover, “Anything would have been better than living with you, and I know I’m not the only one that thinks that. If you can look me dead in the eyes and say that you wanted me to stay, go ahead. I dare you,” he challenged, green eyes meet red and sparks flying. Bakugou opened his mouth, but words would come out. Did he want ‘Deku’ to stay? Wasn’t his goal to get him out of his life? His mind raced with contradictions, but, before anything could leave his mouth, he watched Midoriya smile sadly. Green eyes hit the ground, “I didn’t think so,” was uttered as he turned away. Bakugou could only stand, mouth agape; words wouldn’t make their way to his mouth, his body wouldn’t move, but his mind continued to race. As the boy disappeared from sight, Bakugou began walking back to the train station with more questions than answers. What happened to the Deku he once knew?


	12. Down in Hosu

The Hero Killer: Stain, a “legend” amongst villains, unless you were Tomura Shigaraki. The fact that he had joined while Midoriya was away was quite unfortunate. He had no real complaints about the man, but Shigaraki was a giant man child and would not shut up about how much he didn’t like the guy. Of course, that meant Deku was going to have to get his hands dirty. Shigaraki setup the perfect plan to get Stain killed and “regain his fame,” despite never having ‘fame’ on the first place. Midoriya and Akaguro, Stain, would have gotten along well if not for the target above his head. While his conviction was solid, he didn’t offer Midoriya a roof over his head. Even if it was a gutted supply closet, it was all he had. Midoriya wasn’t giving up the bar for a hero hater. Despite being right about the moral failing of today’s heroes, his methodology was completely wrong! He was killing innocent heroes and bastards alike.

Planning for the attack was scarce, Stain was used to winging it. Shigaraki wasn’t even supposed to participate in the attack; he and Kurogiri, mostly just Kurogiri though, were supposed to drop him off in Hosu to find his next big target. Of course, Shigaraki personality prevented him from doing as he was asked, so he asked the ‘master’ for available Nomu. All For One must have had a plan, because he agreed. The group walked through the warp gate onto the rooftop. Stain was the first to leave, followed by the Nomu scattering throughout the city. Deku knee his objective as he headed out, observing quietly from the shadows. It would have helped had he been paying attention to where Stain was going rather than just ignoring everything that Shigaraki was saying. However, that didn’t stop him in the least. He turned down an alleyway to see Stain fighting some insignificant “pro” and a UA student, Iida Tenya. He was related to the pro hero Ingenium, the younger brother if memory serves him right. Watching just long enough to confirm his suspicions, he didn’t want to interrupt the dude’s monologue, Deku lunged foreword in just enough time to protect the boy, Iida. While just outside of the paralyzed boy’s vision, Deku picked Iida’s phone out of his pocket. He conveniently worked the phone easily enough to send out a text before Stain noticed. It was just his location, but it was enough to help the kid a bit. “In a situation where a hero can not defend themselves, they must call for backup,” this kid was lucky that he wanted to be a hero in his early days. Not calling for backup can be a punishable offense, especially with such a convenient way of contact. The boy was babbling on about this being “his fight” and whatnot, but Midoriya wasn't listening at all. Foot in front of foot, he began running towards Stain. Both had knife-based fighting styles, but the moment blades crashed, sparks flew. Deku was careful to avoid scratches, fully aware of Stain’s quirk.

Eventually, a bit of distance between the two opponents grew. Deku debated regaining said distance, despite the consequences, but his attention was drawn to an entrance. The boy from the Sports Festival, Todoroki Shouto, stood in the entryway and called out his friend’s name, “Iida!” In his distraction, Deku fell, feeling the paralysis spread over his body. “Don’t let him invest your blood, it’s his quirk!” Deku yelled, waiting for the minutes that he had to wear off. Thankfully, Todoroki could fight well, but Deku didn’t stop trying to move. Watching the other fight was an experience, he would admit; this scene would make great material for his books. Ice jutted out of the walls where Todoroki touched, but Stain was always a step ahead. The moment Midoriya moved his finger, Deku sprung into action. A deadly dance with a distant duo and a preaching poet screeching peace. Deku and Todoroki moves around each other almost effortlessly, while Iida struggled to regain his mobility. Stain blabbered on about his ideals, only making Iida struggle even more. The moment he was free, Iida jetted off the walls, charging up for a kick. Deku noticed how well the two classmates fought together, like a duet played in perfect harmony, and backed up to finish his master plan. He tied a rope to two knives, and prepared for launch. The right opportunity arose when Todoroki flew forward with his fist and Iida readied a deadly kick, both in opposite sides of Stain. Unable to dodge either of them, he could only allow himself to fall. Deku threw the knives so that the rope wrapped around Stain and pinned him the moment he hit the ground. Deku immediately searched him for knives, knowing where his most used knives were, and placed them aside, out of his reach. Deku took the liberty of carrying Stain out of the alleyway. He immediately recognized the towering stature and intense flames of the hero, Endeavor.

Endeavor wasn’t expecting a lot of things that night. He wasn’t expecting his son to willingly go to his agency in the first place, but going on a patrol with him? He certainly didn’t expect anything to actually happen that night. He kind of expected his son leaving him halfway through the patrol, but not in the way that he did. He didn’t expect those ugly beasts to be as strong as they were. He didn’t expect to see the kid from the Sports Festival again, let alone here. Standing right in front of him were three beaten up children, one mangled hero, and the Hero Killer: Stain. Letting the body hit the floor, Deku opened his mouth to explain the situation. A rare case of not speaking soon enough arose as he did. One of the winged Nomu scooped Deku up all in one go. No one could recoil for fear of hurting the kid, so all they could do was watch as he flew away in the arms of a fallen angel. Deku watched their figures get smaller and smaller as he neared the recuperation point. Shigaraki took one look at the boy clinging to the Nomu. The blood on his clothing told enough about Stain’s condition for Shigaraki. Of course, he wouldn’t be too happy once they start broadcasting that the Hero Killer: Stain was caught and put into custody, but that would be later down the road. Deku giggled under his breath picturing the little freak out already. He stepped off onto the platform roof, ignoring Shigaraki’s confused glare.

Shigaraki went to talk to the master immediately after they got back from the raid. Midoriya went to take a shower. He washed the blood, sweat, and sweet memories of friendship down the drain before changing into a comfy pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt that said ‘villain sweater.’ One of the villains had the ability to print logos onto shirts, and he took full advantage of that opportunity. Everybody that wasn’t him hated it, but that only made him want to do it even more. He made his comfort apparent as he strode simply to his room, flopping on the bed and awaiting sleep’s warm hug.


	13. Cured And Cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dark Heart: the ability to manipulate negative feelings.  
> He can manifest, both, his and other’s people’s emotions (as long as they are negative) into attacks of physical form. Using his own emotions wears him down a lot faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m making a full post on my Tumblr @headcanonsfromanasexualpirate check me out if you feel like it, I have plenty of shit to scroll through aimlessly if you ever have a day to waste ((ignore my self promo if you want))

Midoriya wanted nothing more than to sleep the entire day. Who doesn’t? Against all of his body’s protests, he rolled off his cot right on the floor. A few laughs knew what that thud was, but they were quick to put on their poker face once the door opened. Midoriya was dressed in simplistic, comfortable clothing. He, himself, bit back a laugh at the sight of Shigaraki with his face in a newspaper. It was most likely an article about the takedown of The Hero Killer: Stain. Physically biting his lip, Shigaraki confirmed Midoriya’s suspicions, “What is this?” His call was so upset that it was laughable. “It’s all about Stain! Stain this, Stain that! Barely a sentence about my precious Nomu! What does he have that I don’t?” He bubbled like a science fair volcano. “Uh, morality?” Midoriya answered him in a deadpan voice. As if saying duh, he continued, “Even if people don’t agree with him, they see where he’s coming from. He wants to rid the world of ‘fake’ heroes- the people who are only heroes to be or look cool, or for the government benefits. He wanted to be killed by a true hero, like All Might. All Might completely fits the ‘hero’ trope, and he does it out of the goodness in his heart and all of that bullshit. Stain wants more heroes to be like All Might-” “I see! So it’s all about All Might?” Shigaraki cut him off, causing Midoriya to groan. It was luck that, in that moment, Kurogiri relayed the information that Shigaraki was too much of a brat to give, himself. “The master wishes to see you.” Such an ominous statement, as if they were slaves in a large estate, or mocking school children speaking of a dominating principal. In heart, one knows that they did nothing wrong, but they can’t help review every smitherine of memory to find something that would lead to such a terrifying call. It was already later in the day, since Midoriya needed sleep to recover from his fight against Stain. Plus the squabble with Shigaraki seemed to drone on that, so the master was probably waiting for a while. Not wanting to delay the relay any further, Midoriya didn’t bother with formal attire. He was given a set of directions and told to go.

The voyage wasn’t too difficult, physically at least. Midoriya sped through the alleyways in the quickest walk he could muster; the journey was far too long for running, but, then again, so was almost any journey. He made his way to the warehouse, mind racing. He must have done something major to meet the master in person, even Shigaraki usually spoke to him via tv! He entered the warehouse, slipping past all of the progressing Nomu and to the master’s room. All For One sat in the typical villainous swivel chair. “What did I do that was so bad, you not only had to see me in person, but also do the cliché dramatic villain reveal?” his tongue had become a habit, which would have been bad if All For One didn’t… laugh? “You’re not in trouble, so you can come a bit closer,” Midoriya hesitated taking a few more steps, “I’m going to reward you.” Oh that so sounded like rape, wow. “Shigaraki isn’t the easiest to deal with, but I assure you it’s all for the end goal. Rather you've done such a good job putting up with him, and keeping up with the League despite being quirkless,” okay, now it just sounded like he was being mocked, “That’s why I’m going to change that,” wait, change what? All of a sudden, All For One’s hand found its way to Midoriya’s forehead. Searing pain rushed into his body; it was as if every torture that he had ever been through was coming back in full force. His ears rang and screams filled the air. A new power flowed through his veins, but exhaustion prevented him from even moving. “You are no longer the quirkless Deku you once were. Now you are Dark Heart Deku, your ability is the manipulation of negative feelings. The rest is unknown to me. Enjoy your new power fledgling,” All For One grinned in such a way that Midoriya could only scowl. Asshole. A bit of warning would have been nice. He stood up out of pure spite and almost spat his words, “I’ll take my leave now.” His legs could not hold his weight worth a damn, but he refused to show weakness

It took him twice the time getting back than it did getting there. Once again, he wanted nothing more than to flop back onto his tiny bed and sink into sleep as if it was death, but he didn’t. The stress put on his body reopened just about every wound he had, so he threw on a dark red hoodie and grabbed money for medical supplies. This time, Kurogiri was kind enough to warp him as close to his destination as possible without it being suspicious. Midoriya bought enough bandages to strangle a mummy. The clerk looked at him weird while ringing up all of the medical supplies. “I’m an accident prone, so I want to stock up in case of emergencies, you know?” his excuse was completely buyable given the visible bruisers in his body. Scribbling something on a piece of paper, the clerk handed him his change along with the number for an abuse hotline, “If it ever gets bad, call.” What a nice person. Midoriya gave a thank you and left, waiting until he was far out of sight to throw away the piece of paper. It was a friendly gesture, but ultimately useless.

Walking back, he couldn’t help but notice a familiar face. It was the asshat that killed his mom, worse, someone beside him was thanking him for being such a reliable hero. A feeling of power surged within him; it felt like he was sent back in time to the day that his mom was killed, except today he was powerful. Onlookers observed as a violent, almost eggplant, aura surrounded Midoriya. His feet moved without his brain telling them to. “You asshole!” he yelled as he ran to the other. He focused his power into his arm and managed to shoot off a blast. It landed right beside the “hero,” serving as a warning shot. It fried the arm of his sweatshirt, but it served it’s purpose. Once his attention was on Deku, the “hero” began charging back. Just as planned, Deku sidestepped and pushed the middle of his back, causing him to face plant. Just as the other rolled over to get back up, Deku lunged, placing a deathly grip on the other’s throat. Flashes of the “hero’s” hauntings slipped into Deku’s mind, but they were nothing compared to what he had been through. Tears spilled from the sides of his eyes, and all he could think about was how much he wanted the “hero” beneath him to feel the same pain as he did. Feeling a dull vibration in the hand that was held to the “hero’s” throat, he did something similar. “You killed my mother,” he hissed in pain. The one beneath him felt a surge of regret, a regret that only grew. Adding to the list of things his quirk could do, Deku made said regret swallow the once hero whole. The numbing and overwhelming emotion and the blockade on his airways soon killed the one beneath him. A reporter just barely caught him before he fled the scene, “Who are you?” He laughed, looking the camera dead in the eyes, “Just some dark-hearted Deku,” He flicked a stray strand of bitterness and broke the camera as he stepped over the corpse and sauntered into the alleyway dead ahead. Not that adrenaline would let it show, but he was exhausted. No one dared to chase him. He was there just long enough to make a stand, but in a short enough time so that no heroes or policemen could get there.

Slumping through the alleyways, Midoriya could barely cling to the bag of bandages in his hand. He clung to the the heavy hope of laying the fuck down when he got to the hangout. He leaned up against the walls occasionally to stop and catch his breath, but trudged on nonetheless. The bar looming in the distance was the best thing he’d seen in weeks. Walking in, however, led him right to the battle going on right in front of the door was a bit much; he was only trying to get to his room.


	14. A Strengthened Alliance

Walking in with just enough time to see Shigaraki walk out, Midoriya staggered into the doorway. He recognized immediately why the giant brat walked out when he saw Giran… ugh… Both he and Shigaraki could agree that they didn’t like him. He was an asshole who rounded up troubled kids and threw them into a life of crime as if that was their only option for a future. It didn’t help that the two people standing beside said asshole were, both, kids, and most likely fans of Stain. Tall, dark McStitches was the first one he truly noticed, and beside him was Psycho: The School Girl. “Who’s the kid that looks like he got out of a meat grinder?” McStitches was the first to talk, too, gaining only a sarcastic response, “Who’s the asshole that looks like Frankenstein’s creation during an emo phase?” Sarcasm was clearly the way to this guy’s heart, because he grinned and stretched out a hand, “Dabi, you?” Midoriya returned the hand weakly, but still with firm grip; a bad handshake was unacceptable. “Did you want my real name or a code name like your ominous ass?” it was, both, a mocking and a serious question. Before he could respond, Ball Of Energy jumped foreword. “I’m Toga! Himiko, Toga! Nice to meet you!” she extended a bubble hand towards Midoriya just as Dabi did. He warily took it after releasing Dani’s. “You’re just my type! Can I kill you? Please?” admittedly, Midoriya couldn’t help cracking a smile, “Izuku, Midoriya, and, no, the only thing killing me is this pain. Speaking of which, Kurogiri?” Midoriya held up the medical supplies. He weakly took off what was left of his shirt and sat down in a bar stool, placing the supplies on the counter.

The moment Kurogiri’s cold fingers brushed Midoriya’s skin was the moment his systems overloaded. Scorching emotions burned his brain. He felt all of the pain that Kurogiri had been through; every hit he took, every fear he had, every haunting memory rushed into Midoriya at one time. It was like a high voltage shock; as if he grabbed a power line of emotion. Giran laughed, opening his mouth to make a comment. Midoriya hated it; he hated that filthy mouth and everything that came out of it. It was just a matter of condensing that. Throwing the feeling as if it were a wave, he shattered the table beside Giran. “Shut the fuck up!” his voice boomed as violently as the blast. Kurogiri let out an almost inaudible ‘ah,’ as in: ah, that’s why the master wanted to see you. Toga and Dabi looked with gleams in their dead eyes. Giran’s face fell immediately; this kid was terrifying without a quirk, not that he’d ever admit that, but with a quirk? He was the embodiment of death, itself.

After patching Midoriya up, Kurogiri made drinks for the three sitting at bar stools, awaiting Shigaraki’s decision. Even Shirgaki wasn’t stupid enough to turn away extra help, not with his plans, at least. He eventually walked out of his sulking corner, “Fine, but don’t get too cocky. Your first mission is as follows:” he began explaining how they were going to infiltrate the first year UA students’ camping trip. He had specific details about each location and attack point. Midoriya couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Shigaraki started seething with rage; it was hilarious. “They’re obviously not going there,” he began and continued without any room for interruptions, “How often have you targeted UA? Even once makes us extremely suspicious! Do you really think that they’ll continue the plan as is fully well knowing that information has spread this far? A child tells a parent, a parent tells a friend, so on and so forth. Anywhere along those lines could lie a villain. They’re not that stupid.” Kurogiri took the reigns here to avoid upsetting Shigaraki, “What do you purpose?” Midoriya hopped off the stool, wincing slightly at his mountain of injuries, and grabbed a small notebook from his room. He flipped through a few pages before he found the page he was looking for. “The Wild, Wild Pussycat’s mountain,” he held up the book with a sketch of said territory along with bullet points containing information about the range. “Do you really think any school, let alone the hero prodigy school, UA, is going to bring students on a field trip for fun? No. This local is reserved enough to where we wouldn’t normally know where it is, and it has the perfect area for hero training. Of course, we can’t forget that there are pro heroes that know that land like the backs of their hands. It’s a perfect training facility!” he explained vividly. “Smart, too, what’s a brat like you doing here?” Dabi laughed, earning a glare from both Shigaraki and Midoriya. Their eyes wavered for different reasons, Midoriya was offended being called a brat, and Shigaraki who clearly just had his intelligence insulted. “So what kind of plan do you have for this mission?” Shigaraki practically spat, off from being proven wrong, much less insulted. “Well, obviously, we go in, and we wreck shit,” Midoriya gave him a ‘duh’ look, waiting for Shigaraki to recoil. “That’s the master plan? What did you waste all of your brain power finding their location, and now you’re wasted space?” Shigaraki seemed to be having his own rage field day. “Yes, that’s the master plan. To start off, when have you ever actually had a plan? Not that I’m complaining, but, this group,” he paused to add emphasis, “-isn’t the brightest bunch. Any plan that isn’t ‘hit them… really hard’ is like a foreign language. We’d waste so much time teaching them codes and locations! The master plan doesn’t always involve strategizing with knock off monopoly characters,” he explained, shutting his book and looking Shigaraki dead in the face. “Fair enough,” the sky was green and the grass was blue, Shigaraki admitted defeat. As he stalked off to go do… whatever it is that he does.

Toga and Dabi were extremely interested in this ballsy teenager. Then it happened, Toga was the first to reach out, grabbing and clinging to Midoriya’s arm. The girl’s life flashed before his eyes. Slums, abuse, violent murders from the first person. A hand flew to his head as Midoriya winced in pain. Then it happened again, Dabi reached out to help him. Skin contact triggered memories, physical pain was a flame engulfing his body. Midoriya fell to the bar as if all of gravity had been centered on him, every swear flew out of his mouth like a sailor’s flag flew in the wind. He coughed and sputtered trying to regain his breath. All he could manage was a half assed laugh and a “I can see why you guys wanted to join the League…” Both were confused by said action. A flame of negativity flicked from his wrist into his palm as he displayed his quirk. “Dark Heart; it has to do with negative emotions. As a side effect of my ability to use negative energy,” he placed his hand on Toga’s head and watched as his hand began emitting a similar energy. “Feels lighter,” she commented almost abently. “Both my own, and that of those I touch,” he displayed both hands, “As a recoil, though, I involuntarily see, and feel, all of the negative emotions that the people I touch feel.” Two dumbfounded looks fell upon Midoriya, so he demonstrated, “Your dad’s an asshole,” Dabi, “You don’t understand love, so your homicidal tendencies take over.” Toga nodded happily, “It makes me super sad!” she beamed. Dabi looked like he didn’t want to admit that his whole reason for villainy could be summed up in such a simplistic sentence, but any disagreement would have been justifying his dad. He shrugged, nodding with an outward glance.


	15. Personal Plague

Midoriya, Toga, and Dabi spoke until late, familiarizing themselves with their allies. At last, it was the relief that Midoriya had been seeking all day: it was his bed. The uncomfortable cushions that could cause discomfort to someone floating on top of said bed. However, he fell into the cot as if was a mattress made for a king. All he wanted was to sleep and forget about the dull ache over his body. He brought his blanket to his chest, feeling a childlike sense of glee wash over him in the form of a soft piece of fabric. It was going to be a good night, at least he had hoped.

Color washed over his dark vision, and a dream was being birthed right in front of his shut eyes. The walls were chanting in something of Latin; it was so familiar, but so foreign at the same time. The world was spinning, making him sick just standing, and all directions seemed to become one with each other. He felt a burning in his throat and a demon above his head. He felt watched with eyes of pure bloodlust. His hands were red as he looked over a sea of bodies, some he recognized. He ran, bolted even, in any direction he could manage, trying to get away from the agony pounding his memory. He could hear the yelling once again, this time coherent, ‘You did this,’ ‘This is your fault,’ and insults thrown at him like daggers. The ground began screaming at him, calling him a monster over and over. He saw a light and ran towards it like his life depended on it. His legs burned like the scenery around him, but he kept running. Out of the fire and brimstone, he saw her: he saw his mom. She sat in a field of flowers in rainbow, with a bright blue sky behind her. She wore a yellow sundress and a straw hat, both blowing in the cool wind. “M-Mom!” Midoriya almost hesitated calling out to her. “Izuku,” her voice was shocked, but the emotions within that shock were difficult to differentiate. He ran towards her as if his legs had known no troubles, tears leaving his eyes as he ran. He was so busy basking in her presence that he didn’t see the twist of her face. He ran to her side, panting, but smiling as he looked up at her. Her gaze was downcast, looking at something he couldn’t have seen from his original spot. Just beside the flower bed was a deathbed; a staggering cliff stared back at him, but what was most terrifying was what lay at the bottom of said cliff. It was a sea of bodies, somehow even worse than the one that threatened him in the previous world. He looked down horrified, but that couldn’t compare to the face he made when he whipped around. “I’m disappointed, Izuku,” his mother said so whisper like, with a face twisted with anger and sorrow. Midoriya had no time to react as he felt two hands brace his shoulder. He painfully felt the fingers roll off of his skin in slow motion as he fell victim to momentum. “Mom!” he called out helplessly as his body plummeted to the ground. Just before he was about to hit the bodies, he jolted awake in a cold sweat. A warm aura surrounded him in his quirk, only exhausting him further.

He felt the warmth go away, leaving him only with his tears and a blanket. He was, surprisingly, glad that he gave his blanket to the one UA student; he couldn’t even bare to think about it right now. He looked down at his hands as if they were still bloodstained, feeling every teardrop trying to wash away the bloodstains in vain. His body shook like an earthquake as he couldn’t bring himself to do anything but cry. Biting his tongue to stop from sobbing, he looked around at his “room.” Another wave of emotion hit him; sorrow, regret, a hint of anger, and a few other things he couldn’t quite name. His room was once that of a fanboy; he had All Might posters everywhere and so much hero merch it could drown a kid. His room had an open layout, plush comforters, pillows, and a fresh layer of hopes and dreams. The best part about his room, though, was how close it was to his mom’s. Now? He barely has enough room for his tiny, uncomfortable cot; a blanket and a singular pillow; bottles on shelves that looked anything but natural; and the smell of sorrow in the air.

How long had it been? It felt like hours, but it could have been only minutes. Midoriya went to the bathroom to wash his face, trying to navigate the dark halls and open areas. He saw a glowing clock, notting that it was almost time to wake up for the day. The blinding bathroom light revealed Midoriya’s sorry state. While his face wasn’t outing his tearful night, his eyes were hollow and dead even when looking directly into the light. He winced, testing that theory; it was very much a bad idea to look directly into a light after hours of pure, or almost pure, darkness. However, the water cooled his face, running down the skin faster than his tears did. All of the sweat from his previous terror left his face feeling lighter as he watched it wash down the drain like the tears of his past. That night’s sorrow was left in the bathroom to run into the sewers and be forgotten forever as Midoriya shut off the light and walked away. After a stubbed toe or two and a few hushed curses, Midoriya slunk back into bed. He was careful not to fall asleep, though. Instead, he wrote down notes about how the Mountain Infiltration would need to be structured.

There was no light to gently seeping into his room, becaning him awake. There was no soft voice nor hand calling him from consciousness. There wasn’t even an annoying alarm clock. The room was quiet, lest the casual ticking of the clock on the wall. Midoriya woke up everyday completely on his own; his internal clock had specific times for him to lay down and hope the world would go away, but it also knew just when to get up. He held the book of ideas he had brainstormed that night and planned to take them to Shigaraki. He planned on sweet talking Shigaraki into staying home, not that it would be too difficult. He thought himself to be the master’s prized puppet; he was the shell that would carry out All For One’s goal. Of course, he couldn’t do that it he were dead or injured. Not even Shigaraki would argue with a statement as solid as that. He rolled over getting ready to start the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this is the Trainin Camp arc, which will be written in four parts. Keep in mind that it won’t be in the same order as the original and a lot of things will be switched up...


	16. A Fire In The Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter in the (Summer Training Camp Arc). It will be a five-part arc in this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is a canon parallel, the scenes are going to be similar to those of the oringinal manga, however, as you know, this is told from the point of view ‘if Midoriya was a villain’

Midoriya ran the bar as usual that day while his teammates went over what they were to do during the infiltration. They were to attack in the evening, when the students would be tired from quirking out and the teachers would be tired of putting up with them. The only problem was the annoying wait until evening… and telling the customers that they wouldn’t be open from prime drinking time, but that was mostly just arguments. About half of the bar patrons were participating in the infiltration, reading the vague instructions that Deku had given them each. Somewhere along the line, somebody started a discussion about what they should be called- not that it mattered. “League of Villains’ Frontal Force!” Twice, a boisterous villain with a cloning quirk, chimed in. His attitude was always a bit too bubbly for a villain, but he was the appreciated working comic relief. “Nice alliteration, but that sounds stupid. We need a name that does the job; it doesn’t need to sound flashy. We should be the Attack Force,” Mustard, a B-ranked assassin with a knack for murder, argued. Unlike some of his comrades, he prefered quiet kills and using his quirk to take out enemies without a struggle. “We should be a squad! A tight knit group fighting under the same ideals! The League of Villains’ Attack Squad!” added Spinner, to describe him as outgoing wouldn’t quite cover it; he was enthusiastic, to say the least, and a justice fighter(™) to boot. His past altercations left him with an oxymoronic hatred for heroes and a love for justice. He was, most definitely, the strongest Stain fan of the group. “That’s so childish, go for something like the League of Villains’ Vanguard. It sounds so much cooler and has a meaning behind it,” surprisingly the philosophical input came from Dabi; more likely than not, he just wanted to sound smarter than the rest of the group, though. “We take action!” Toga gleefully chimed in, “Action to make the world a better place!” They could have gone on all day and never left the hideout if Midoriya didn’t chime in. “The League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad. We lead an action based revolution with a tight knit group. Over. Done. No further discussion,” if Deku hadn’t said anything, Kurogiri looked like he was about to resolve the conflict himself. A silent, almost invisible, nod of thanks was sent to Midoriya.

Kurogiri slowly fed the villains through a warp gate to a mountain protecting the hideout. Miscellaneous chatter soaked up the short waiting time that the villains were currently being melodramatic about. “No good, it’s just not cute!” Toga, one of the many bouncy children in the League complained aimlessly. “The abstruse administration has laid out our orders. While they don’t appear to be the most professional, their planning is sure to be sound,” Mustard argued for the sensibility of the plan. “Not that, not that. It’s just not cute,” she aimlessly complained about whatever was most prominent in her cluttered mind at the time. “Who the hell cares? We came to kill, and I want to get to it!,” Muscular was just ticked that he was the newbie of the group and was very much treated as such. He was a powerful ally to have, but he did not embody the beliefs of the league at all. He was a chaotic evil amongst lawfuls and neutrals. “Shut up, weirdos, the plan is to wait for all of us,” Dabi spoke up, looking over the see of forest. Magne, Spinner, and Moonfish all walked through the portal after taking too long to get ready. “Ambitious punks only cause more damage than they’re worth. What they need is a hit from a gang of elites,” an open mouth declaration to the rest of the squad, “Peace is ours, and they will learn that tonight.”

Eventually the time came for the mission to truly begin. Mustard and Dabi were to launch the initial attack, drawing the attention on them, while Magne and Spinner were to hunt down the Pussycats. Once the smoke was up and ready, everybody spilt. The League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad slunk into the forest like a snake in the grass. Mustard released his quirk, the gas swirling like a typhoon, and Dabi did his job, igniting various trees, all far enough away to spread the fire, but not too far away as he was lazy. Magne and Spinner went to target the Pussycats. Moonfish and Toga wandered the forests in search of stragglers.

Mange was the first to officially strike, pulling on of the Pussycats towards her and landing a heavy blow to Pixiebob. “We are the League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad, tiny UA students. Pleased to meetcha!” Spinner stupidly declared. He was a living definition of a poorly written comic book villain, always blurting out whatever comes to mind. ‘Ha ha, heroes! I (we) have (think we have) the upper hand! (we don’t) Since we’re so confident (cocky, stupid), here is the entire layout of said plan, step by step (as if we were explaining it to one of our recruits)’ type of badly written comic book villain. Magne was smarter than Spinner, holding Pixie-Bob to the ground with her weapon. “Should I crush her pretty little skull? I don’t see why not, but what do you guys think?” psychological manipulation that was to instil a feeling of helplessness. It wasn’t outwardly taking a hostage, but it was showing that she wasn’t hesitating. The problem with hostages always becomes ‘if you kill them, you have nothing,’ so having the clear ability to ignore your “advantage,” shows power. Student’s shocked faces were priceless as they gaze upon the villains. Tiger, however, was not having it. He knew the woes of being a woman, and, as a person, also wished for a similar happiness. It was no secret that the Pussycats were steadily creeping past optimal age. Pixie-Bob was taking it the hardest. “Don’t you dare!” he hissed- pun intended, with rage hot on tongue. Both Ragdoll and Tiger were happy with hero life, Mandalay was just worried about the idea of being old, but Pixie-Bob was the romantic of the group. Magne didn’t care for that though, she had her heart broken far to many times to care about the heart of a “beautiful” woman. Tired of being the “coyote ugly,” she wanted to make it so that beauty didn’t run the world. Spinner cut in as well, completely knowing Magne’s anger for those deemed “attractive.” He called out, “Don’t be hasty Big Sis Mag,” he knew she loved that nickname, for several reasons, “You, too, Tiger,” he held his arms out to stop the two readied opponents. “Holding life in your hands is the most important thing you can do! Do you not remember Stain’s teachings?”

Of course that fanboy would bring up Stain. He took every word from that man’s mouth as if it was his lifeline, after a while that was what happened. He believed heavily in justice, but was always made fun of as a kid. He wasn’t the strongest, the smartest, and definitely not the most beautiful: he wasn’t an “ideal” hero, and his strong sense of justice got him nowhere. “Stain… So these people were his followers,” Iida almost felt regret at this point, the thought that Stain had followers who quite clearly knew his face as one that brought their “teacher’s” demise. He could easily push it aside because Stain was an asshole who put his brother in intensive care, despite being a hero for the purest of reasons. “You got that right!” half right, at most; most of “Stain’s followers” weren’t actually his followers, they just believed in same or similar ideals. Shigaraki couldn’t understand that, but he was just a big man child who refused to try- a statement taken directly from fellow members of the league. “And we know all about your feats, four eyes,” Spinner looked at him with a side glance, “And how you helped bring Stain’s end in Hosu.” He placed his hand on his weapon before he continued, “I’m who they call Spinner, and I’m here to make Stain’s dreams come true!” he declared as he “unsheathed” his weapon. It was a new addition for him, made of every knife Stain left behind, with a few of his own, awkwardly tied together to create a patchwork buster sword. Spinner, still lost in the confidence of his introduction and the echoed ‘woah’s of his blade’s reveal, plucked a nerve of Tiger’s.

“That’s good for you, but,” he looked to Pixie-Bob who was lying unconscious, “Pixie-Bob, my friend and teammate, has been worried about marriage. Happiness in life is a woman’s woe! With all of it’s difficulty, she tries very hard!” at this point it was just an oration. Until Tiger got to the point, “How dare you leave an ugly scar like that on her beautiful face, and blab like that without any care?” he was yelling now, showing his true colors. “So heroes have such plain dreams, too?” Spinner was laughing at the thought. The term ‘hero’ had degraded so much, to the point when they’re worried about life after their job. Wasn’t that so funny to think about? A profession where your only purpose is to help people, and there’s a question of what comes after this? People who are trusted with lives have time to worry about marriage and their white picket fence dreams; do the people not matter? Spinner couldn’t help but laugh as he charged towards half of the Pussycats. “Tiger! I’ve sent out the order to Ragdoll to make sure the students are safe! All we need to do is hold them off here!” Mandalay relayed to the partner beside her. She turned to the students and gave them what they needed to know, “Get on your way kids! Be alert, but remember: no fighting!” she couldn’t afford to turn her back. “Keep them safe for me, Class President!” a statement to encourage Iida; being called the class president reminded him that Momo accepted the ‘Vice’ role because she trusted his decision making more than her own. “I’ll make sure we stay safe and out of the way. You heard her, time to go!” Iida rallied his peers as their fearful feet pounded down the path to safety.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri discussed the likelihood of the mission as their pawns were in play. “Do you think they can pull this off?” being honest, Kurogiri still wasn’t over the stupid naming ceremony that they held instead of preparing for battle. “Maybe, maybe,” he almost laugh, unwilling to admit that Midoriya’s words made him change his strategy. Sure, he could have thought of it on his own, and that was what he told himself, but, ultimately, it was Midoriya who told him to think of it like a video game. “I thought this was an rpg, advancing through the storyline as quickly as possible, but I was all wrong. See, when my level one party and I should have been killing slimes, we were trying to fight the boss,” he understood that his ambition got ahead of him, seeing as all the he wanted to do was defeat All Might; it was a heavy fault to admit. “Instead, I am the player, I am the GM, moving my characters and the storyline to places that will get them closer to the end goal,” he grinned at the idea of his master plan, “And to do that, we need to break a few walls to allow the chaos in. It doesn’t matter if they thrive or not, they might not even survive,” he laughed leaning back slightly. Kurogiri didn’t follow, “So they are disposable?” how would that help at all? “No, no, of course not! They’re all comrades, but what matters is the lingering fear that something could happen at any given moment. Wariness, mistrust, accusation; why fear us when they fear each other? But of course, I do hope they succeed,” he made a point. Wariness would fry their systems; who has time for self care when evil might be anywhere? Mistrust would scramble their minds; it was exactly that! Just a thought! Who’s to say if it’s wrong or right? Accusation would tear them apart: why am I suspicious? The fact that you find me suspicious is quite so. Do I even know you? Not to mention the big pawn: Deku; the young boy Izuku Midoriya. Shigaraki knew his relations to the explosive blonde boy, an ex bully who knew him as a hero fanboy. All Might himself, who had shot down the young boy’s dreams. The two students who fought Stain in Hosu, side by side with the kid who saved their lives. Shigaraki grinned as the battle raged throughout the mountains. Several unconscious and unaccounted for, injury count racking up a total; it was going just as planned.


	17. Elsewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part two of the five part Summer Camp Training Arc rewrite

Deku noticed Muscular darting in a direction that was clearly not of his objective, so he followed the brute. Muscular was the chaotic evil amongst the lawful evils; he was outcasted by society for being a murderous maniac. Coming up to a cliff, Deku heard Muscular talking to someone, “Everybody in that stupid League just prattles on about justice, but that’s not what being a villain is all about! You know what it is about? Fearful faces like yours kid.” Turning the corner, Deku saw the blonde brute towering over a tiny kid. Whose kid was that?? Nonetheless, he approached, “Discontentment with the League, Muscular? We can’t have that.” The look of confusion on Muscular’s face was as priceless as it was short lived. “You know, I always wanted a reason to smash your smug face,” the blonde grinned, readying a punch. Due to his inability to control his quirk, Deku had quite the getup without a single piece of skin showing. He was armed with paralyzation potions and knives, so nothing that would have too much of an effect on his current opponent. Thankfully, all Muscular did was really pick Deku up and throw him around, so nothing he wasn’t used to. As long as he played chew toy for a bit, the drug he had jabbed the man with take effect. It was, essentially, a quirk reverser for the villain, since this “betrayal” twas inevitable Deku made a drug that specifically wears down the muscle fibers that his quirk uses. It would, admittedly, take a bit to take effect, but he could take a bit more brute force, as long as nothing-

“Waterhose! My mom and dad! Did you torture them like this… when you killed them?” shit, something happened. Of course that got Muscular’s attention. Great. “Seriously? They had a kid, that just happened to be you? Talk about fate,” Deku tuned out their conversation for a short while; it was just Muscular being a douchebag, as if bullying children was anything to be proud of. Deku worked at the buttons on his shirt; if he was going to help this kid, he’d need his quirk. Muscular looming over the kid, readying a punch was obviously a trap, but, at this point, Deku didn’t care. He worked up a heavy punch, wrapping his regret around his right hand. He hit Muscular with all the feelings he failed to bottle that night. As the brute fell, Deku turned on his heel towards their objective. As Muscular got back up, Deku pushed the plan, “This isn’t where we’re needed!” Of course, the poor kid had no clue what they were talking about, but he also didn’t have a say. “Like I care, Pip-Squeak! I didn’t join the League to fight for justice or any of that crap, I just joined to fight!” Deku scooped up the smaller kid, carrying him back to gain a bit of ground.

Everything plaguing the kid, he now knew was called Kota, rushed to aid Deku’s own shitty memories. Kota mentally blocked off any talk of his hero being a villain; his heart couldn’t take something like that. Midoriya felt this, a tinge of regret swelling in his stomach, but Deku could use this and that was what mattered. “I’ve heard stories about you being quite the opponent, but I could never believe them. A small thing like you? But now I’m gonna get serious!” Muscular began jumping, chasing after the pair of brats running away from him. As they stopped on a rock, Deku told Kota to stay back, because of fucking course he’d have to take out an ally to save someone on the other team again. Deku cloaked himself in an armor of anger, frustration bubbling as he yelled at the kid to run. Holding Muscular back was no easy task; this man was, what, three times his size in pure muscle mass, at least. The only thing keeping him in place was the constant fuel of frustration from this whole scene. The struggle became more and more difficult as Muscular leaned into his push. Kota, who should have been running, launched a water-based attack that had oh so much affect. In the kid’s defense, it was all that he could do, but Deku was just salty that now he had to put effort into this. As Muscular turned his attention to Kota, Deku surged his power into an overload. That split second of fear gave his just enough headway. He kept both hands placed firmly as he amplified that tiny fear until it was crippling, as Muscular lost power and became overwhelmed he began to fear defeat. That gave the drug in his system all the time it needed to be effective. Knocking the man unconscious and immobile was quite difficult, but now he had to deal with the kid.

He scooped the boy up, the only thing that bothered him was the fear directed towards him. While it kind of hurt, he didn’t have the time to worry about what his enemy thought about him. A vague map appeared in his memory as he tried to scout the best place to put Kota. He trekked through the forest to the building at the center where the kid would be safest. Noticing “Dabi” and Eraserhead were fighting out front, Deku snuck around to the back. “It’s best that you forget I was ever here,” he explained that simple sentence to the boy before leaving him at the back door. It wouldn’t take Eraserhead to long to deal with the Dabi clone out front, so the kid shouldn’t be in too much danger if he were to leave. Kota could only stare at the shirtless villain, scars lined his entire torso. Clearly, old wounds were reopened, and for what? To help him? He didn’t even know him! Who would willingly throw themselves into such a dangerous situation for someone they didn’t even know? Nonetheless, Kota could only watch as the, what he could only assume, villain ran off- no doubt to cause harm to the others there, but Kota couldn’t find it in him to even call out. Fear, perhaps? Yeah, he’d stick with that. Shaking off the haunting feelings, he snuck around to the side of the building, not daring to even watch the fight going on in front of him.

Dabi found himself wandering the woods after setting them ablaze. Part of him was on the happier side that their targets were the students, his quirk was powerful, but his body wasn’t scarred for fashion. He ran into Twice having a debate with himself, which was no surprise. His quirk had the ability to create and control a clone of virtually anyone. Unfortunately that left him with a bad case of multiple personality disorder and a bit of schizophrenia. “Who? Who? Who?” he waved himself about trying to think of the best candidate to send out. “Send out a me,” he offered offhandedly. “A strong ally with the wits and ability to screw this all up!” everything out of his mouth was just a varied version of: “thanks, I hate it.” Nonetheless, he went with the Dabi clone anyway.

Dabi decided against standing beside the chaotic villain, so he began casually wandering out to see what Twice was fighting. Surprised, he came across Grandma’s cottage, and would you look at who was coming out? If it wasn’t the tired uncle, Eraserhead! His teammates had no doubt met up with Mandalay- or whatever she called herself- the Pussycat with the “telepathy” quirk. The fire user continued walking with a shit-eating grin as he talked to himself within the scape of his mind. It was a pretty shitty “telepathy” quirk, rather that it was more of a “broadcast,” due to the one-way connection. He watched Twice’s clone ready himself to meet the pro hero by the doorway. The clone had started a small fire at the house, of course flames were mostly for decoration since the house, itself, was non-flammable. Eraserhead was already on his way outside, coming face to face with “Dabi.” Though the clone was the one to move first, launching a flame about half the temperature of Dabi’s own. “We’re not here for the pros, so swallow your woes,” what an image Twice had of Dabi. It was quite annoying, and he almost regretted giving the okay, let alone suggesting it himself.

However, using the clone worked out perfectly for Dabi, since he was one of the few who had a power based quirk; if the heroes thought that he was this weak, they wouldn’t be well prepared for him in the flesh. Eraserhead, who had seen many battles before this, dodged immediately. His quirk was all about putting he and his opponent on equal footing, but from then on it was his own strength that he relied on. Wrapping one of his scarf’s ends around the balcony fence, he hung there until “Dabi” spotted him. Quick! Add in a line that sounds like Dabi: “I guess you’re not called a pro for nothing,” Twice quietly congratulated himself for the “witty” one liner. The clone went in again for another attack, but was cut short by Eraserhead once again. The end once wrapped around the fence flicked towards “Dabi,” wrapping him up in the special alloy. Eraserhead pulled himself toward the “boy” standing on the ground and delivered a painful knee to the face. He then unraveled the fabric and slammed “Dabi” to the ground, immediately demanding, “Objective and numbers.” Something Dabi like, something Dabi like, “Why should I?” it was just bold enough with a dash of ‘I don’t care,’ and a hell hint of asshole. Eraserhead leaned in close threateningly. He began bending the clone’s arm in ways that it shouldn’t bend, however, his reaction was nothing since he was just a pile of flesh moving via quirk. Eraserhead took this as a defense and a challenge, “Arms one after the other, but, since you only have two, I might end up getting legs involved. I’m not afraid to break you, even if it means a mess for the cops,” he hissed. It was at the wrong moment that Iida, Koda, Ojirio, and Mineta returned, all quite spooked from the chaos around them. The Dabi clone used this to his advantage, flipping Eraserhead off of him. The clone was well aware that he was reaching his end, grinning as Eraser thought he had won. “Good enough to pass your knowledge on the the future generation, and being so protective of them, hero,” he almost laughed as Eraser wrapped his infinity scarf around the clone once more, “Is it because they mean a lot to you?” The body slowly disintegrated when Aizawa pulled on it. “I hope you can protect them,” he added, making the air ominous.

“Ah! Dabi is too weak! I should’a known!” Twice waved about to himself. “Done already? That didn’t last very long...” Dabi walked up beside him nonchalantly. “What?! Of course not! You’re pretty cool man, but these pros are impossible!” contradicting himself once more. He could claim that he was defending his quirk, but his brain was scrambled eggs as a result of his quirk. “Try another me, Twice. One by one we can take them over,” Dabi was just talking bullshit at the moment; he just didn’t feel like physical activity that night. “That’s a terrible idea! It’ll never work! Leave it to me!” Twice beamed with his normal oxymoronic sentences. “No, no, no! No! That just won’t do! A brilliant plan this bad will never work!” he changed his mind once again. Another reason why Dabi wanted to stay with Twice, the likelihood of getting anything done was minuscule. He tried to talk Twice into doing it or backing out, seeing as the ditz kept going back and forth like a see-saw on drugs.

Aizawa left the fight a bit more tired than he’d like to admit, albeit miniscule though. Shock and confusion rippled through his being as the villain rippled out of existence? Just when he finally caught the villain in a strong grasp, too. Koda, Ojiro, and Mineta, all led by Iida, witnessed that as well, still panting from their run. “Get inside, tell Vlad that I need to relay a message to Mandalay,” he ordered with an added, “I’ll be back,” for good measure. “Wait!” Kota called out, managing to find his voice once more, “I-I have a water quirk, so I can help put out the fires. Mandalay is probably worried about me, too, so I c-can assure her-” of course Aizawa was going to have trouble arguing with that. “Fine, but only interfere when I tell you to. I need you to listen to everything I say, okay?” to which, Kota nodded furiously. “Stay here for now, I’m not going to risk taking you near the combat,” Aizawa nodded and pointed towards the house, “Hurry up before they come back.” It was obvious at this point, from what the villain said, that they were after the students. “You pro heroes stay out of our way. You aren’t the ones we have a beef with,” the words echoed in his head. With the minimal staffing and the expansive, mountainous layout, there was no way they could protect the students if they didn’t fight back.


	18. Blood Red Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part three of five in the Summer Training Camp arc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting last week, my iPod broke and I couldn't update

With the kids out of the way, Mandalay and Tiger had a bit more confidence fighting. “Our targets are wannabe heroes like you!” incorrect, the targets of the operation were the students, “You selfishly put yourselves above-” he was too easily distracted. “Isn’t Spinner just so cool? Not to mention handsome, me~ow” that was almost hard to fake for Mandalay, broadcasting the message directly to Spinner. Of course he was caught off guard, always being called slow, dimwitted, ugly, and all of their synonyms, but never cool, especially not handsome. His brain momentarily shut down, that was, until movement caught his eye. “Aw, did I make you blush? How cute!” Mandalay leaped at him, claws outstretched. “W-What?” he whipped around, just barely dodging the lethal blades on Mandalay’s paws, “You seductress!” he was clearly distraught. Disappointment, sadness, and a general disheartened mood made for the perfect opening. Mandalay crouched on her legs, readying an attack. That was, until she felt herself being pulled in a direction she did not want to go. Magne channeled her quirk through the giant magnet that she carried on her shoulder and pulled Mandalay away from Spinner to let him smash his broken mood. “Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” Magne teased, taking advantage of the woman’s confusion. Tiger immediately jumped in; this felon had gotten one of his teammates, she wasn’t getting any more, “Tricks don’t work after they’ve failed!” he smacked the magnet in Magne’s hands. “Nine robberies with assault charges, twenty-nine attempted murders, and three successful. Kenji Hikiishi, or should I call you Mange, your villain name?” Tiger growled in Magne’s face. Of course, she took the accurate response, “Oh, you’ve done your research,” in a mock flirtatious tone. Thankful for the, albeit small, ability of repel that came with her ‘magnetism’ quirk, Tiger’s blows only came close to hurting her hours of cosmetic care. This skin softening lotion took forever to settle in! Of course that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to fight, making eye contact with Tiger menacingly. “Something’s off, Tiger! I can’t get a response from Ragdoll! She’s usually so quick to check in on us!” worry filled Mandalay’s voice, so much so that she couldn’t even try and hide it when she spoke to Tiger. Mange felt a surge of pride; these good for nothings were doing their jobs.

Meanwhile, Aizawa and Kota were slipping through the forest unnoticed. As the fighting was getting louder, the tired male told Kota to hide while he relayed the information. “Mandalay!” Aizawa shouted from across the field, “Tell the students to fight back!” he called out. The cat like woman continued to fight despite her confusion, “Really? Are you sure?” she couldn’t help but question. “The students are the targets!” he yelled, “Kota and I are going to put out the fires, so I’m assuming that you can keep up here?” Aizawa didn’t need a reply, since he already knew how that was going to go. “Got it!” Mandalay knew that she didn’t have to answer as she delivered a kick to Spinner, who ultimately blocked. Magne pushed Tiger off of her, lunging forward to Eraserhead, “We should kill him,” according to Shigaraki’s explanation of their mission, it was to knock out the base blocks and watch the tower fall accordingly. While starting at the top or middle wasn’t ideal, if such an important pawn was in their grasp, surely they should go after it! “Not now!” not that Spinner would admit it, but he was having trouble with just Mandalay, there was no way that he could handle both Pussycats. Both Tiger and Mandalay took advantage of this situation. Mandalay landed a kick to Spinner’s yappity-yappin jaw, which helped because it was her first solid blow, and she was getting downright annoyed listening to him yammer about nonsense. Tiger threw Magne to the ground without remorse. From then on, their performance went downhill. Spinner got tired way to easily, already feeling the battle’s fatigue. 

Things were looking up for the heroes, except Class 1-B was having trouble with Mustard. Being out on the “scare” team made them easy targets for him, since they were all in one general area. His quirk swirled around him as he non-visibly watched the less targeted hero class. Several injured, many more trying to escape the cloud, lest two brave, or rather stupid, class 1-B kids, known as Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Itsuka Kendo, rushed towards the young villain. When Tetsutetsu led the duo, they ended up running in literal circles, so, of course, Mustard laughed at them, doubting their intelligence. Eventually they stopped and changed course, beginning to run towards him, though he still doubted their capabilities because they were stupid enough to think challenging him was a good idea. Sometimes, a slow burn gas isn’t enough to kill before the cops or heroes get there, so he has a secondary weapon: his gun. It was a small, classic revolver that he could easily slip under his coat. Drawing it was easy, the fire rate was decent, and recoil was almost nothing even when a bullet could do plenty of damage. He began to think aloud as one of the students rushed towards him, “No matter how strong they are, deep down they’re just human,” he said, as if he, himself, wasn’t a human. The bullet bounced off of the student’s skin akin to a ball bouncing off a court, as Mustard breathed a sigh. “I almost forgot about the ‘hardeners’ in this school, so my gun can’t damage you,” thinking aloud again he was lucky that he hit the kid’s gas mask, “You can’t breathe this air in and survive, and any breath could be your last.” Of course, since Tetsutetsu’s only real plan was to engage, he rushed forward with the ability to at least take the bullets. At this point, it was clear to see that both of them were just kids, Mustard thought smuggly, despite being a kid himself. “What’s with the bland charge attacks? Mix it up, use a bit of strategy, or is UA not the top-notch school people lay it out to be?” he laughed, buying time for the girl behind him to think that he was blindsided, “You’re not even worth my bullets.” Tetsutetsu noticed the slight movement of his barrel; it was an eyeless aiming of sorts, as he made small movements to take down the target he had his sights set on.

In an instant, the metallic boy was taking a shot to the head; he’d rather himself than someone it could be fatal to. Kendo was clearly surprised to see her classmate, his words telling her to retreat were like cotton balls in her ears. Mustard was having his fun being the classic villain (™) and laying out his plan to the heroes, “A sneak attack? How worthless! This gas is mine, I create it, I control it, and I can see your every move through it!” From explaining his quirk to talking to himself, once again, “Why is that so hard to comprehend? I want to see more from this school that people will break their bones to get into.” Back to his opponents, once more, “I’ll forgive you for some of your stupidity, I guess-” at this point he was only half speaking to the students. Tetsutetsu began to rush towards him, thinking that the kid was lost in his own words. Unfortunately for the boy, he couldn’t see straight. Wishing that was just a gay pun, his metallic coat was a lot less thick and, as Kendo pointed out, he was bleeding. Mustard finally shut up for two seconds and landed a quick headshot. Tetsutetsu was weakening and he knew it, but he couldn’t give up, not after dragging Kendo into this, too. “Your tough exterior is deteriorating, am I getting to you? Are my bullets painful? Is your blood boiling from lack of oxygen? Can you even breathe? How much longer will that quirk of yours last?” all questions that will never be answered, but he continued to say them anyway. Clearly this kid had a problem with talking to himself, because he just kept jammering, “See, simple toughening quirk users like you are just good at brawling! Rushing into combat and hoping everything will go okay from then on. I think it’s stupid! Aren’t you guys going to be heroes someday? If you can’t grasp such a simplistic concept, how will you be of any use in the real world,” he was just taking his frustrations out on these kids at this point. He, at one point, also wanted to get into UA, and his parents wanted the best for him, even if they only showed it through intense pressure and mental trapment. Logically speaking, that was most likely the reason that he talked to himself so much, typically not having anyone else to talk to does that to you. “You get pampered by society just by making the cut to some pumped up school!” it was obvious to him, even at such a young age, that he was never going to get into UA, not with a quirk like his. Funny how something so condensed and incontrolable was deemed “villainous,” when it wasn’t anything he could help. It was almost the same as judging someone by their gender or situation: trivial. “Isn’t it just foolish?” a kick to the stomach was Mustard’s next move, needing a physical output to vent his frustrations.

Kendo saw his anger and overconfidence as she lunged next, missing on purpose to take advantage of that. “I can read all of your moves,” Mustard stated once more, as if the student he was fighting was an imbecile, though to him, she was. Kendo activated her quirk, slamming Mustard into the ground. Unfortunately, Tetsutetsu was staring through glass bottles, and she knew it, as her mind raced to think of a plan. “Knowing how we move isn’t knowing how we think,” she kicked herself for not being able to think of anything, her mind racing at a million miles per minute. “Don’t get so excited over your lame quirk!” Mustard wouldn’t admit the tint of embarrassment on his face, thankfully hidden by a mask. That was it! Kendo knew what to do, “Quirks aren’t to be judged by their nature, but rather, how you use them!” she waved her hands back and forth, clearing the air so that Tetsutetsu could breathe. He was too in awe of the fact that her overly large hands could literally blow away his quirk to focus on having a mental rant about the bullshit in her statement. People like him would always be on the ‘villain watch’ list because of their quirks, at least that was how he, and most of the League at this point, felt. “You’ve spent this entire fight blabbing about how dumb we are, but you’re the real deal here ‘Mr-School-Uniform.’ Do you have so little faith in your own abilities that you need a gun to fight?” Kendo, at this point, was just buying time for Tetsutetsu to catch his breath, “Even our simple UA minds have grown past such childish ideas-” There he was, Tetsutetsu in the flesh, readying a roundabout punch and knocking Mustard to the ground. There was no way Mustard could have seen it coming, with the gas as thin as it was. With his literal metal arm, added with all of the body weight that he threw into that punch, and, topping all off, his pure strength was more than enough to smash that mask to pieces. “Of thinking that all hope is lost,” she finished her sentence, still unsure if he even heard it. Kendo was a bit surprised that the gas was vacating as quickly as it was. Not realizing that she had spoken out loud, she was a bit startled when Tetsutetsu replied, “He can’t breathe in his own quirk, so he wears a mask just like everyone else. Take out the mask, take out the kid,” he grinned triumphantly before falling to the ground. Their area was safe, for now, but other places weren’t looking as hot- poor choice of words- some were looking even hotter, but not in any way that was good.

Aizawa wasted no time hurrying back to the students and Kota after his message was relayed. Boy was he glad that he studied the map for shortcuts beforehand, because the trees all looked the same to him. Meanwhile, Vlad was trying to persuade the kids that fighting was not a good idea. Of course, he wasn’t letting them past either way, but that didn’t stop the kids from insisting, “They’re after our friends! We need to help them!” Kirishima practically pleaded. “The order was for self defense, not offense. Students are allowed to fight back only if their lives are in danger!” Vlad argued. “It’s pretty dangerous out there,” Kota added, choosing to ignore the villain that had helped him. Funny to think, if a villain hadn’t helped him, he’d be dead, but hew couldn’t tell anyone that. “I didn’t think Aizawa would be back so soon, we can ask him!” Kirishima was worried; all of his friends could be in grave danger and all he could do was sit down and hope for their safety. “That’s not Aizawa,” Vlad didn’t know what that was, but it wasn’t his fellow teacher. “Get down!” Iida yelled at his fellow students, seeing the door burst open. Vlad jumped to protect the students in his care from the debris. The moment it cleared up, his eyes landed on the villain with a ball of fire curled in his hand. “Not on my watch,” Vlad grabbed the clone by the skin on his chest, slamming him into the nearby wall and digging his nails into the chest in his grasp. “You think we’re dumb enough to fall for that stupid attack. You’ve really underestimated your opponents, huh?” Vlad growled, though it fell on deaf ears. The clone was weakening, but pain wasn’t in it’s vocabulary, being a soulless puppet. “Of course I have, seeing as how you reacted just as I thought you would. Even now, you’re already losing this battle,” he wasn’t talking about the one on one fight; his answer was on a much larger scale. “The Symbol of Peace and the world famous Yuuei, School of Heroes,” he was referring to the war, “Two of society’s dreamcatchers, are now one in the same. Little cracks create canyons of doubt and then what is left of the world? A rag-tag group of villains repeatedly attacking such a symbol as if it were nothing. Then slowly, it becomes nothing, taken down by a small villain organization.” Of course the villain’s plan was just pure anarchy, but Vlad kept his grip, hoping to hear something about true objective or anything he could find useful. Aizawa made it back just in time, stomping the villain to the ground, “It’s no use, Vlad. He’s just a clone spewing nonsense.” He stomped the body into goop, “See? It’s just a decoy. They sent one just like him earlier,” Aizawa explained. “I thank you for watching Kota and the kids, but I’m going to need you to keep it up,” the hero turned on his heel, “I’m going to get out there on the front lines.” Vlad reacher out to stop him, “But wait! Who knows how many times they’ll attack here before this is over?” in a fight he was confident of his abilities, but he didn’t know if he could keep all of the kids that managed to get to the house safe. “They lack manpower, and all they’ve sent this way is clones. They don’t know our escape plans, so they send clones to keep us pros busy,” Aizawa explained. “Let us help!” Kirishima jumped forward, as did Iida, “We’ll have the numbers and the advantage!” He admired their enthusiasm, but it was impossible, “Their targets are the students, and there aren’t enough pros to guarantee your safety if you guys are scattered about. Our movements are capped due to lack of information,” he explained, getting ready to head out. “Our victory is making sure you guys are safe,” he left, heading towards the battle grounds.


	19. A Glimpse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part four of five in the Summer Training Camp arc rewrite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Yeah! Sorry again for not updating.

If being paired together wasn’t bad enough for Bakugou and Todoroki, the smog that polluted the air diminished their visibility and made it hard to breathe. The heterochromatic boy had picked up one of the Class B students, Kosei Tsuburaba, who had collapsed mid-scare. Bakugou cursed as he could have sworn that he saw that tree before, or was he just losing his mind from this thick fog? “Do you think the villains did this, too?” they both had seen the smoke rising from the tops of the trees. ‘No, this was a quirk that their allies had released to hinder their battle capabilities! How could he overlook the quirk that clearly no one on their side had!’ the blonde bit back the retort, not wanting to waste what little air he did have. “I hope the others are doing okay, but there isn’t much we could to do help them…” the gas made his thoughts swirl, so he was talking to try and keep his sanity. Bakugo hated it; it reminded him too much of Midoriya’s mumbling. He could still recall that unreadable expression on his face as he jumped. The exhausted boy standing in the subway. What had happened? What did it all mean? “We should get back to the facility, since this test of courage isn’t important anymore,” saying the smallest things, “Ragdoll was at the midway point, so she should have this area covered.” It pissed Bakugou off. How dare this bastard remind him of a memory he worked so hard to repress. Hadn’t Midoriya died? He was just seeing things back at that stupid station; he just some sick joke haunting Katsuki at the most random times. “Don’t give me orders,” he snapped, trying not to think about the weak smile of the useless hero-wannabe. A person? “We were one of the first ones out-” if not the first, so there shouldn’t be anyone in the path, right? That apparently wasn’t true, looking at the creep in front of them. Todoroki was uneasy; there was just something about this guy that he didn’t like. That something happened to be everything, but his aura, his stature, hell, the very idea of him just seemed to send a shiver down his spine. “Pretty, pretty,” he loomed over something that the boys couldn’t see from their positions. “I gotta work, work, work, but I don’t wanna leave it,” he was clearly in a dilemma over this object that he found. “Tokoyami and Shouji!” Todoroki just barely recalled the pair leaving before them. Neither of the two had paid much attention to the groups, so it was no wonder that it took them so long to figure out. “Alluring flesh, blind me no longer. I need to get to work,” Moonfish hadn’t heard the boys behind him, being so wrapped up in his obsession, until they spoke loudly and clearly. “With this psycho on the loose? There’s no way I’m not engaging,” Bakugou hissed. A chance to protect his classmates and get his mind off of his childhood friend that’s existence was clouded in mystery? Hell yeah!

Regret was almost instant. His weird teeth quirk had both range and strength. Bakugou couldn’t get close enough to land a blow, narrowly dodging the blades. He continued to charge forward, looking for any opening. Todoroki, however, was getting quite annoyed with his partner, having to always throw up a guard when dodging was completely out of the question. Mandalay’s voice called out: “The students are the targets! Fight back if you must, but don’t engage otherwise!” Moonfish didn’t really want to be here. He quite disliked fighting and was quite attached to chaining up corpses from his kills, but fighting? There were just too many ways to mess up the pretty flesh that he loved looking at. “We are the targets, don’t you get it?” the gas was way to flammable for Bakugou to have any input in this fight, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to carry Tsuburaba’s unconscious body. “Fight back, don’t fight back- make up your damn minds!” he charged forward, “Fuck it! Fighting is our only option!” Bakugou rushed forward, a spark ready in his hands. Moonfish had heard his obvious battle cry, sending a tooth his way. The blonde barely dodged it, watching a wall of ice emerge from the ground. Moonfish had heard that, too, the cackling that the ice made before it shot up. He hated the split haired boy’s quirk. Ice was cold. It didn’t feel good. He hated it. He wanted meat. Meat was warm. Flesh was pretty. He wanted meat now. The two hero trainees were arguing about Moonfish’s credibility. He had been on death row and back again; two lousy kids didn’t matter. They weren’t kids, per say, more like bags of meat with pretty, perfect flesh keeping that meat together. “An explosion would start a massive fire, you know that, right? It could kill all of us,” Todoroki knew that Bakugou wasn’t stupid, but he was doubting his knowledge, seeing how revved up for a fight the blonde was. His stance was open and his fists raised, legs bent as if he was about to lunge. “I’m not a dumbass!” his partner doubted that. Moonfish didn’t care, digging his teeth into the ground, trying to find that warm blood he craved. 

Deku had no regrets leaving Kota where he was as the villain trudged through the thick underbrush. He searched the forest for a target, not wanting his only action to be defeating Muscular and saving a kid that wasn’t even from his team. He stepped through the forest, his eyes catching a dust of frost that most likely belonged to that Todoroki kid. It would be best not to engage with someone like that just yet; he wanted to save the strong ones for when he put on a show. He felt a wave of pure negativity wash over him. Good, it was someone easy to manipulate. The screams got louder and louder until they were ringing in his ears. There were two distinct screams; that of the boy and that of the beast. Deku debated how to get the beast’s attention, feeling sorry for the boy caught inside the black abyss. Just as the shadowy head was about to jerk his way, Deku felt himself being pulled down. Shoji tried to calm his breath, just barely catching the kid before Tokoyami noticed. Not recognizing the silhouette, the boy thought it was a Class 1-B kid, but, looking closer, he realized that assumption was wrong; he just saved a villain. Deku felt all of the fear that the six armed boy- Shoji- had been feeling. He felt the regret and sorrow. “Your friend has lost control, huh? Since his quirk resembles a shadow, I’d say his weakness is light, right?” a moral dilemma fell upon Shoji’s shoulders. Surely he couldn’t just tell this person- a villain- his friend’s weakness! However, he might need to if either of them wanted to get out alive. “I think I know where we can find some light,” Deku spoke absentmindedly. He was almost certain that the frost belonged to the half-fire, half-ice boy, so if he could just get the guy to use his quirk and calm the morphed shadow- Tokoyami, if he recalled the hero beside him’s memories. “What do you mean?” just how much did this villain boy know? Shoji immediately cursed himself for being too loud, attracting Dark Shadow’s attention. Deku pushed the hero student over to avoid being hit with a devastating blow. “We need to hurry! Now! Are you going to follow me or let yourself get killed?” heroes and villains were titles that didn’t matter at the moment; the only titles that had significance in that moment were dead or alive. Not-Tokoyami was already preparing his next shot. Shoji had no choice but to believe the boy, even if he was a villain. “Do you want your friend here to be a murderer?” Deku hissed, manipulating the hero student so easily. Shoji couldn’t let Tokoyami deal with the pain of having a dead on his shoulders. There might not actually be any light up ahead, but it beat staying where they were.

Moonfish didn’t look the brightest knife in the crayon box, but the creep could fight. He used his unusual quirk to fuel his desire for flesh. It was just their luck that the classroom pretty boys were up against a powerful pervert. Both being much too socially awkward to talk to other people, it was no wonder that they couldn’t talk to each other. They were running out of time and ideas fast. Both boys were dazed as an unexpected saviour showed up. Dark Shadow was violent and wild, attacking haphazardly and just angry at the world. “He’s out of control. I’ll light a fire-” Todoroki began, but Bakugou cut him off. “Don’t, not yet,” this was the best thing that could have happened to them. Deku and Shoji ran, catching the attention of Moonfish as well. “Meat! Mineeee! No, no no!” the creep was clearly disgruntled; he hated kill stealers, like the ominous shadow before him. His dagger teeth shot forward, “I will slice up their bodies! Me! Only me!” he yelled. However, that didn’t work for Dark Shadow, with Tokoyami’s fighting desire to not hurt his friends, along with Dark Shadow’s defiance, “Don’t order me around, weakling!” Dark Shadow screeched, tossing Moonfish around as it crushed him in a shadowy grip. “See that?” Bakugou pointed out; it was a good thing and cool as hell, but even he was terrified at the moment. The boys who were once so still jumped forward; Todoroki igniting his hand and Bakugou sparking his palms. Tokoyami fell to the ground in an instant as Dark Shadow recoiled from the light. “Oi!” Bakugou yelled before Tokoyami had a chance to spew nonsense about how sorry he was or how much stronger he needed to be. Bakugou had eyes on the one trying to get away. Shoji would admit that he was about to let the villain go; he couldn’t find himself viewing the green haired boy, whose name he didn’t know, as a villain after everything he did. Todoroki sent a wave of ice towards the figure running away. Deku dodged easily, jumping into the light where the hero students could see him, “Good evening,” he smirked. None of them could move. Tokoyami was trying to keep his emotions in check. Shoji was shocked that the male could make a face like that, despite the fire in his eyes when he was convincing Shoji; “Do you want your friend to be a murderer?” it still stuck in his mind. Todoroki immediately noticed the face of the boy who barged into his waiting room, who reassured him that his fire was his own. Bakugou looked at a face he hadn’t seen in what felt like forever.

Asui and Uraraka were just up the path from where the boys were, facing quite the enemy. Toga bubbled, seeing two cute girls within her grasp. She managed to sneak up on the cute brunette girl, cutting her arm. Asui took stance to protect her friend, “Are you alright, Ochako?” she wanted to make sure. Toga had such terrible luck with finding people to drain, but her luck had changed! She found two cute girls. Examining her knife, however, soured her mood slightly, “It’s so shallow, not good, not good,” she whined. “Who just runs at someone with a knife? What’s wrong with you”” that was a stupid question on the girl’s part, obviously they were in a fight with a villain, and there were many things wrong with the blonde in front of them. Toga, however, wasn’t listening, “I’m Toga! You two are adorable!” she beamed, not quite understanding the true concept of an enemy. “Urakawa and Asui!” surely if she demonstrated that she knew their names, the girls would be less alert, though Toga had a bit of a lisp when speaking. “To think I used to have to make a biiig wound and slurp you up!” she was never taught how to filter her words, when to say things, when not to say things, so she kept talking, “But down I just need a kiss and it sucks it up for me!” Her costume was such an upgrade compared to what she originally had to go through. The girls yelled as Toga charged at them once more. Asui wrapped her tongue around her friend and threw Uraraka far enough to get a bit of leverage. “Get to safety! Just because we can fight doesn’t mean Aizawa wants us to!” she yelled- her mistake. Toga saw the opening as broad as day, throwing a knife dead at the girl’s extended tongue. Uraraka’s “Stay safe, Tsuyu,” was pretty useless, seeing as her friend got hurt the moment she said it. What it did do, however, was bring joy to Toga’s face. Tsuyu! That sounded so cute she just couldn’t help repeat it, “Tsutsu! Tsutsu! That’s s cute! I wanna call you Tsutsu, too!” she beamed. “Only my friends can call me that!” Asui’s meaning and Toga’s interpretations were two entirely different things. “So we’re friends, now? Great!” for obvious reasons, Toga didn’t have any friends. She was far too much of a sociopath to understand true “love.” However, the blonde wasn’t dumb to battle strategies. She saw Asui leaping forward and threw her vial like a dart, catching the cute loops in the green haired girl’s style. “Tsuyu!” Uraraka saw her friend being pinned to a tree as she was trying to run away. Of course, she immediately turned around. “You’re bleeding, Tsutsu! How cute! You really are adorable!” Toga had no indication of boundaries, and Asui was getting pretty tired of it. The scene felt off as Asui looked into Toga’s gleaming, terrifying eyes. Her face was only getting closer and closer, and twelve feet away was too close her Asui’s tastes. “Get away from her!” Uraraka yelled, charging towards Toga. The blonde didn’t worry too much about technique, throwing her knife forward, knowing that the chances of the brunette dodging that were slim. However, Uraraka had no intention of dodging that. ‘Grab their wrist and the back of their neck, while pivoting to a blind spot. Push down as hard as you can, and then pull their arm up their back:’ it was what she learned at her internship with Gunhead. “Can you tie her up with your tongue, Tsuyu? Assuming it doesn’t hurt to badly” Uraraka knew that the chances of her holding this were slim. Asui was in awe of her friend, despite looking like the human adaptation of a puppy, she could turn almost terrifying in an instant. “You’re amazing!” she had to gush before helping the girl out, “Just give me a minute.”

Toga said the first thing that came to mind, “Spectacular is a girl in love~” she cooed, recalling something she had heard back on the streets, “You’re in love aren’t you?” Toga loved distracting her opponents and having conversations with cute girls, so this was a win-win! “I get it, I get it, I’m a girl too~ You’re probably thinking about them right now!” even if she wasn’t, she was now. Though Uraraka couldn’t think of anyone like that, surely the blonde didn’t mean her friends. “You think about them, act like them! Don’t you just wanna be like them? Do what they do; live how they live! Thirst is unquenchable! Until, before your eyes, you take over that person; you are them!” people typically can’t handle the things that go on in Toga’s mind- it was why she liked Deku so much. The blonde knew that her words creeped people out, so, if she kept talking, their guard would go down. “Do you have a type? I do! I like people who smell like bloodshed and look like a fight! I just can’t help it when I look at their mangled bodies as I chop them up! They’re so fun, hey, Ochako?” The brunette was to disturbed to notice the small shifts as the blonde talked. Her needle found its way to Uraraka’s thigh, “Gulp, gulp,” she cooed. “Ochako!” Asui’s tongue rushed to her friend’s side when she saw the the stab wound, since she was still stuck to the tree.

Shoji, Todoroki, Tokoyami, and the unconscious Tsuburaba broke through the tree line. “Everyone!” Asui called out. Toga pushed the brunette off and started for the woods. “I don’t feel like dying tonight, so I’ll say bye bye!” she bounded off to find weaker prey. “Are you two okay?” Shoji stepped forward. Asui helped Uraraka up, “Yeah, we’re find, but what about you guys?” the brunette spoke up. “We were chasing a villain- well, Bakugou was,” Tokoyami spoke up, the only one who could truly view the green haired male as a villain. “Then where are they?” Asui spoke up, not seeing Bakugou or this supposed villain. “They weren’t that far ahead of us…” Todoroki swore he had just seen the violent blonde locks two seconds before they broke the tree line.


	20. It's Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part five out of five in the Summer Traing Camp Arc Rewrite!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to apologize in advance for the little but of ooc in Bakugou's character at the end- it's not that's much, but I still wanted to address that I was trying to emphasize the desperation.  
> Other than that, enjoy

Mr. Compress prided himself in his magickal skills, though the crowds claimed bull. What is magic in a world of superpowers? He just wanted to make the world smile, but they pushed him off stage and spat on him as he walked by. Who wanted to watch “magic” when they could just watch the heroes work? He wanted revenge on the heroes that had forsaken him. “Are you looking for these?” he held the small orbs on display for the children. “All we want is to liven the world up,” of course the kids wouldn’t understand that. Todoroki launched his ice quirk at the male in the middle of his monologue, as if Mr. Compress was dumb enough to fall for that. He could most definitely use that later as he continued his speech. “We are here to change the way life is viewed, since you kids have had ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ labeled as if they were textbook definitions,” he preached his ideals to a blank crowd, the kids were trying to figure out his quirk and intentions. “So what? You surely didn’t come here to preach to us!” Todoroki was admittedly agitated. He had seen Bakugou’s hair; his hand reaching out for green locks for but a split second before he blinked and they were gone! “It’s an entertainment thing; a bad habit that I can’t quite get used to, but, with these figures, we can advance,” he laughed at the confusion displayed on the students faces. Bakugou was the objective of their heist, unbeknownst to Deku. Though having the teen in a bubble would make quite the show. Deku was the only one of them their age, since Mustard was younger than them and Toga was probably older. Those two were the closest in age, although Mustard was a middle schooler and Toga didn’t actually remember her own age after the abuse she had gone through. The psycho just wore a schoolgirl’s outfit because she thought it was cute. However, Deku was their age, willingly walking through the warp gate waving his goodbyes, and that could be enough to break them. 

Todoroki was the first to being engaging, handing Tsuburaba to Uraraka before launching a wave of ice. Of course the heterochromatic boy wanted to save Bakugou, he just also needed to get answers out of the green haired boy, ‘Deku’ as Bakugou might have called him. Mr. Compress was completely expecting the icy wall to jump out at him. Kids were so cute, especially the little hero wannabes. He had actually planned for that, “bubbling” a few ice shards to serve as distractions. “I just trick and slip, like a cat, aren’t I? I would apologize, but that’s just who I am!” Mr. Compress laughed once again “Who would want to fight a bunch of blossoming heroes, anyway?” He leaned into the radio, “The target has been captured, I repeat, the target has been captured,” loud enough for the kids to hear him. “Bakugou was the target?” Uraraka openly gasped, realizing they had played right into the league’s hand. “Sorry to cut your fun, but you know the drill! Five minutes to meet at the rendezvous point!” he began zipping off to the point himself. Todoroki wasn’t having it, “I won’t let you get away!” Looking at the situation, Mr. Compress had two vital pieces to the puzzle that they were trying to put together. Surely no one that kind could be a villain? Why would Mr. Compress lock up his own ally?

All around the area, the League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad prepared for rendezvous. Though the signal was a bit of a hindrance for a few of the villains, such as Spinner and Magne, who got distracted. Spinner announced that they needed to leave, as if Magne hadn’t heard the radio, herself. The spunky villain decided that it would be a good idea to just start running. In his defense, he didn’t want to miss their ride home. However, him lunging forward gave Mandalay the perfect opportunity to grab his wrist and twist it behind his back, pushing down and pinning him to the ground. Mange wasn’t Spinner’s biggest fan, but he was loyal and her ally. After hearing the thud of Spinner’s body being slammed to the ground, she forgot her own fight for three seconds. His cries caught her attention and she attempted to move towards her ally, however Tiger wrapped her up with his flattening quirk and monster strength. Thankfully for the pinned duo, Kurogiri regarded them highly, so he made a stop to save them.

“Hey, Dabi, did’ja hear? Compress did his job, about time, too! I was fallin’ asleep on my feet!” Twice bubbled for deaf ears. Dabi wasn’t really listening to anything that the male was saying, “He did his job, now we just have to wait,” Dabi felt the undying need to complain about something, so he chose the annoyingness of the gas being gone. “This place was supposed to be hard to find,” though clearly it wasn’t since there was most definitely a student behind the bush that kept rustling, “But things don’t always work out, since the gas has thinned out,” he was clearly targeting the kid. Twice didn’t get the message, waving his arms and responding as if the conversation was for him, “It just didn’t work out! According to plan!” his contradicting words life his lips as if nothing was wrong. Dabi saw the kid turn to face him: it was that bush! “Wait! I remembered something!” Twice stopped to announce, “Don’t we need to call the Nomu. He only responds to you, right? Ain’t that important?” For once Twice was correct, “My own monster, Shigaraki gave him to me,” honestly, Dabi gave the annoying “leader” a completely bullshit design just to fuck with him. It had two regular arms, six arms that were literal power tools, the muscle of All Might, and a face of pure hideousness, “It’s probably killed a person, by now, if not more.” 

The Nomu charged towards the two students, trying to find his lost plaything or at least a new one. He wasn’t the smartest of the bunch, only able to speak a few slurred words, but the phrase “kitty cat” should surely lead him to his plaything. He clutched the broken communication device that he had ripped from her headband as he charged for the kids. They were yelling in fear, trying to think of a plan to at least evade this monster. Thankfully for the two students that it was chasing, Dabi called it back and it didn’t kill them. However, they were left at a loss of what to do. Thinking quickly the class 1-A student, Yaoyorozu, created a device with her quirk and handed a device to her class 1-B counterpart, Awase, who welded the little button to the large Nomu without any problems. The beast didn’t feel a thing, only charging forward to find it’s target.

“We’re barely even on his coattails!” Todoroki complained, continuing to rush forward with his classmates. Of course he wanted to save Bakugou, despite their disputes, but he needed answers from the “Deku” kid that was taken along with him. It just didn’t add up; why was the boy who encouraged him during the tournament on the battlefield now? Why is a kid who had a hero-themed blanket a villain? Why was Bakugou chasing after him so heartedly? How did Bakugou know his name? “Running isn’t going to get us anywhere like this! Uraraka, if you can make us float, Asui you could throw us with your tongue towards him!” Todoroki contemplated ideas and went with the best one. He needed to know! “Shoji, you can use your arms to keep us from overcorrecting. When we’re just about there, you can let us go, Uraraka,” he added, preparing to fly forward. Of course, Mr. Compress was going to hear them yelling like that as Shoji and Todoroki flew towards him. However, there wasn’t anything he could do about it as the two latched onto his sides and suddenly were affected by gravity. Toga, Dabi, and Twice were babbling uselessly about the fun they had that night. Dabi felt like he was babysitting two toddlers until he heard a noise and told them to hush. Mr. Compress fell to the ground in a circle of his allies. “Not those kids!” Twice yelled in impulse, “I’ve never seen them before!” he realized as he looked at the two students. “Dodge this, Mr.” Dabi called to Mr. Compress as he launched a wave of fire. “That’s freezing! Stupid!” Twice called as, both, a pun on the phrase, “That’s cold,” referring to someone being apathetic or harsh and a reference to that fact that his hot and cold sensors were shot. Shoji and Todoroki jumped out of the way, just barely missing the flames. “Students! From the hit-list! Except for you!” Twice looked to Todoroki, lunging for the boy. In an instant, Todoroki launched a wave of ice at Twice to deter his progress. “That’s hot-ot!” the scrambled villain regretted touching the ice as he jumped backwards. However, he continued to fight, grabbing the ruler that he had installed in his hero costume for shits and giggles. Much like Dabi’s nomu, he didn’t expect them to actually put it in there.

Toga dove for Shoji, seeing as he was the more beat up of the two despite being the less attractive one for her. She figured that she could take the pretty boy when Twice was finished with him. “What a soaring show end! To think that they would take to the sky,” Mr. Compress was admittedly amazed. He figured that they would be inclined to chase after him, but via air? Not bad for a bunch of hero wannabes. “Do you have the target?” Dabi was the only one who was focused on the mission rather than having fun; he just wanted to take a name. Mr. Compress most definitely noticed the duplicarmed boy, Shoji, reaching into his pocket with a smaller limb just before they jumped out of the fire. He, however, still pretended to be confused when he reached into an empty pocket. “Are you looking for these?” Shoji displayed the two compressed ice balls as if he had won, “I’m not to sure of your quirk, but that fancy show of yours must have lead to these, surely they must be your precious captives. Correct, entertainer?” Shoji really thought that he had done it. Todoroki thought so as well, having suspected that the captives were somewhere on the villain’s person. He silently thanked Shoji as he quickly darted away from Twice’s attempt to strangle him with a tape measure. “Well done, well done. I guess even a hero can make a fine pickpocket if he’s got six arms,”

Mr. Compress was impressed with the hero student’s pickpocket skills, but as he extended an arm to Dabi, who was looking to go after them, he removed his mask. He held the two boys on his tongue, knowing that Deku would surely give him hell for putting the boy in his mouth. Kurogiri showed up just in time to see Mr. Compress pop the bubbles in Shoji’s hand, revealing the ice. “Tricking the audience into thinking they know the trick is all apart of the show,” he almost laughed as he took the two bubbles out of his mouth and prepared to pop Deku’s. However, he dropped both bubbles as a laser beam shot directly in front of him. Shoji and Todoroki both lunged forward to catch what the villain had dropped. Mr. Compress had intended on only popping Deku’s bubble, but the blast distracted him, leading him to pop both. Deku hit the ground just before Bakugou, grinning as the male looked back at him. Deku grabbed the blonde by the throat and threw him towards the two boys charging forward. All three of them hit the ground as Deku laughed, “Bye, bye~” he called in a sickly sweet sing-song voice as he waved back to the students. Dabi noticed what he was doing and decided to follow along. Bakugou and Todoroki got back up, both charging for Deku as he stepped back. The game plan was Shigaraki’s beautiful idea of making the students push forward.

The students were barely even hero wannabes, but they each had drive. Shigaraki wanted to cultivate that desire and force them to move forward. The pros had enough sense not to charge blindly, but the kids? They were still stuck on vague hero ideals of “I want to save (as many people as possible)” and typically lacked the understanding of an obvious trap. Dabi leaned back forward, placing a hand on Deku’s shoulder, “Goodbye Katsuki Bakugou, Shoto Todoroki,” he called them both out, establishing that he knew all about them- that and he wanted an excuse to torment his younger brother- “Let’s get going, Deku,” he turned back to the freckled boy with a shit eating grin on his face. Bakugou heard it, but couldn’t believe it. Was this his fault? Did he turn his pitifully weak childhood friend into a villain because of his own insecurities? “Izuku!” the blonde called out, regret ripping his voice. His hand was outstretched, reaching for Midoriya in hopes that he would reach back. Why would he, though? “See you, Kaachan,” the forest haired male’s gaze softened as he looked at the desperation in Bakugou’s eyes. It was far too late, though, as he turned around and walked through the gate.


	21. Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle ended,

Midoriya walked through the warp gate, immediately knowing that he would get shit for letting Bakugou go. “So that’s why you never told me the true objective of the infiltration?” he shot first, looking at Shigaraki with crossed arms. “It never would have worked, you know. Kaachan’s an asshole with highly skilled fighting abilities, a destructive quirk, a bad temper, and very few visibly redeeming qualities,” Midoriya all but hissed as he recalled various memories from his childhood, “But he’s a hero’s dog to boot. Not to mention, joining us after getting himself kidnapped is way too much like defeat for that hardhead. If you want him on our side, you need to convince Kaachan that it’s his idea,” Midoriya deadpanned, looking at Shigaraki. Dabi was the first one to start laughing, immediately earning Midoriya’s attention as he whipped around, “What?” he demanded, looking at the boy dying behind him. “You sure are an expert on this guy, and ‘Kaachan’? What the fuck is with that girly name?” Dabi couldn’t help but find this amusing. “He tormented me for practically my entire life! Of course I’d know what makes him tick! And that nickname is just a bad habit!” Midoriya defended, embarrassment hot on his cheeks. It became a thing: he no longer thought of “Katsuki Bakugou” as ‘Bakugou,’ since he had been calling him ‘Kaachan’ for years. “Are you interested in him, too? I think he’d look a lot better if he were beat up, up, up!” Toga chimed in. “What? No! Why would I be interested in him?” Midoriya was just confused now. “What a terrible union! It’s perfect!” even Twice felt the need to chime in. Shigaraki was, admittedly, mad that Midoriya ruined his plan, a bit more so since he had a good reason to, but that didn’t matter! They got Mustard, Muscular, and Moonfish, when the villains got nothing!

That, however, wasn’t the case. They did end up getting, not what they wanted but what they needed. The appearance of Midoriya planted a seed of doubt, regret, and hope in Bakugou. Midoriya’s show gave the pro heroes a villain that they couldn’t directly target; who could harm a kid that has, as far as they know, done nothing wrong other than hang with an off crowd? All Might would, no doubt, see the young villain as someone he failed to save. He already had a solid base, and Midoriya knew just what it needed to take off as the villains split up and each went their own way. He had a plan, one that started in the hospital where a few UA students were checked in at.

While Bakugou wasn’t outwardly injured, they still needed to run a few tests to make sure that he was okay before the hospital released him. “I heard ponytail talking to the authorities,” he confined with Kirishima, arguably his best friend at UA, “And they have an idea of where Deku is.” Right off the bat, Kirishima was disapproving, “Isn’t he a villain? I understand your drive, bro, but shouldn’t something like that be left to the pros?” he attempted to dissuade Bakugou, but to no avail. “Why do people become villains?” it was an odd question, but a good one at that, “Because they feel abandoned by the pros!” While Bakugou still low key believed that the villainization of Deku was his fault, he needed something to convince the hardhead in front of him that they were the only ones who could do this, “You think adult heroes are going to even remotely understand the mind of a teenage villain? We at least have the age down, which could be the advantage that we need!” Kirishima couldn’t fight against Bakugou’s solid logic and determination; the only thing his friend was this insistent on was being number one. “But how are we even going to find him? What if he’s with the other Alliance members?” the redhead, too, brought up some good points, thinking of everything that could go wrong. He wanted to save “Deku” just as much as the next hero, but what would that cost them? Bakugou was almost kidnapped once! The only reason he got away was because… because of Deku. Kirishima hated himself for realizing that fact. “As I was saying, I heard ponytail talking to the authorities about how she put a tracker on that Nomu bastard. If we can get ahold of that tracker, we can find the location where he is. As for if he’s with the other Alliance members, we go in reconnaissance style. We can attempt to get him alone, but, if we can’t, we’ll leave and try again another day. Simple as that,” Bakugou refused to believe that Midoriya was a villain. After years of fighting to be a hero, even though he was quirkless; after idolizing All Might since diapers; and, not to mention, wasn’t he dead? The blonde vividly remembered Midoriya falling backwards out the window, mere paces away from his outstretched arms. It had to be a clone, an illusion, or something! There was no way that the quirkless hero wannabe was a villain.

“So we’re going to convince Yaoyorozu to give us a copy of the tracker and then what? We just follow it?” Kirishima wanted to make sure that he was on the same track as Bakugou. Glaring scarlet eyes gave him the answer he was looking for, “It’s as easy as that, huh?” he let out a small laugh. The redheaded boy desperately wanted to ask his friend why he was so hung up on this guy, but he didn’t know if he was ready for the answer, if he even got one that was. Bakugou didn’t care enough to memorize his classmates names, but he was so willing to fight for this “Deku” kid, though that was most likely a nickname as well. It wasn’t like Kirishima was doubting his friend’s loyalty, but this kid had to be a hell of a guy to get Bakugou to fight like this. “I’ll go convince Yaoyorozu, since she’s more likely to say no if you ask, no offense, bro,” Kirishima grinned, regaining his fighting spirit as he left the room. The question, however, was how could they convince Yaoyorozu to give them the device?

Bakugou didn’t really give Kirishima a lot to work with as he tried to talk his classy classmate into their mission. “I mean, he let Bakubro go, and that has to account for something,” it wasn’t as if he could just tell her that Bakugou was being extremely insistent about rescuing the kid, because that would only make her even more suspicious. “But he’s still a villain! We have no idea what his drive his, and, for all we know, that little stunt could be a trap,” Kirishima couldn’t argue with her solid defense, seeing as he had the same concerns himself. “Or it could be a cry for help,” an unlikely eavesdropper jumped in. Todoroki stood in the doorway, “If I saw correctly, that kid is Izuku Midoriya, a missing person who disappeared after his mother died. It’s highly likely that he could have been kidnapped by the League and just had nowhere else to go,” the heterochromatic boy was thankful that he did his research in his conquest for answers. Now the girl had a solid argument that she couldn’t fight. Kirishima did his best to back Todoroki up, since he was the one to suggest the plan, “It’s not as if we planned on heading in there guns blazing. We’re just doing some reconnaissance!” Yaoyorozu sighed, “Fine, but I’m heading with you on this mission.”

The energetic redhead went upstairs to retrieve Bakugou, briefing him on what happened. The blonde certainly wasn’t happy with the turnout, now being stuck with the two people who got into Class 1-A, the hero course in general, via recommendation. He, however, was wise enough to know that he couldn’t fight them in the unreasonable request that he proposed. Bakugou was also aware of how important either of them could add to the mission. However, he wasn’t happy to walk into the hospital room to see yet another setback. Iida decided to visit Yaoyorozu before visiting hours were up, not expecting her to be talking to Todoroki about visiting the League’s hideout. “You, of all people, should understand why we need to do this,” Todoroki fought back, using the Hosu incident as backup. Iida had heard the news about the villain “Deku,” but he was in the same boat of disbelief about it as Todoroki. Of course, such a vague excuse would only get more questions than they could answer, so he continued, “What if he’s not there of his own will? Are we going to ignore someone who could be crying out to be saved?” he fought. Bakugou and Kirishima were definitely suspicious of the typically stoic boy’s sudden drive. “A kid who lived his entire life wanting to be a hero is now on the other side, and you want to leave him for the pros? Every minute he’s there is one where he could be being tortured or fed with lies,” Bakugou hissed as he strode into the hospital room.

Iida sighed and joined the rag-tag team as they devised a plan to help this kid. Now that no one was left to fight, they set off on the journey to follow the obscure location that the tracker was taking them. “Isn’t it suspicious for four kids to be out at this time of night?” Kirishima couldn’t help but notice the stares of passing people. “You’re right! Let’s go in there!” Yaoyorozu seemed to be waiting for that comment as she immediately responded, pointing at a tacky costume shop. Bakugou wanted to retort or snap, but he knew that it would be useless to make a scene when they were standing on thin ice. Grumbling lowly, he followed the crowd of students who didn’t share the girl’s enthusiasm, but had no chance other than to comply. “Once we pay for these, we just need to down this road, through that one, and head up this one,” Yaoyorozu pointed at the small screen as the cashier rang up their items. “I thought you kids were tryin’a sneak in’ta some o’ tha clubs up here, but you’re headin’ towards those abandoned woods, ey? You kids sure got a sense of danger,” the cashier laughed, clearly not imagining them going to those woods for a reason as pure as an attempt to save a kid from damnation. One girl and four guys heading to some abandoned woods in the Red Light district? There weren’t exactly many other ideas that typically came to mind. “Ya know they say those woods’re haunted, right?” another faux warning, though thoughts held something on the lines of ‘those ghosts will have quite a show.’ “That sounds fuckin’ stupid,” Bakugou commented, not bothering to hold his tongue. “It’ll be like a test of courage!” Kirishima beamed, seemingly forgetting why they were there in the first place. “You’re a dumbass,” Bakugou turned to the redhead with a deadpan stare. “I thought ghosts weren’t real,” Todoroki commented, recalling a few of his father’s sidekicks being superstitious and all of the backlash that they had gotten about such things being stupid. “Of course they are!” Iida chimed in, “There is no logical explanation for such phenomenon! It’s most likely someone just messing with people using their quirk!” Suddenly the cashier wasn’t so sure what this group was doing.

Toshinori Yagi, All Might, however, knew what he was doing as he used the help from Yaoyorozu’s device and the police’s ongoing investigation to pinpoint the League Of Villain’s hideout. They had agreed on a plan to slowly affirm their suspicions and ensure the capture of as many villains as possible. This was, until Toshinori walked by Yaoyorozu’s room to thank her once more for her quick thinking and wit. If she hadn’t put the tracker on the nomu, they wouldn’t have any leads, nor would they have access to the hero’s biggest threat. Only problem was that, when he went to say one last word of thanks before visiting hours, her bed was completely empty. Toshinori brushed it off to begin with; perhaps she was just in the bathroom or visiting a friend, since the enthusiastic girl was nothing of a troublemaker. What made him tick, however, was fifteen minutes later when she hadn’t arrived and he overheard a nurse claiming that she couldn’t find Bakugou. Two injured students, both who made direct contact with the League were randomly missing. A security guard claimed that there was nothing of them on the previous camera footage after their friends had left. The kids didn’t mean to cause such a stir, sneaking around for obvious purposes, but each had thought of it as a stealth mission and decided that it was a task they had to ace. They, of course, did ace it which led to Toshinori making an important phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you that saw where I said I'd update biweekly, I forgot the and already posted this chapter. Rather than deleting it, I'm going to probably keep to the original schedule as best I can


	22. Cabin In The Woods

After and walking and walking, the group reached the edge of the woods, fear dawning upon them. It had never quite hit them just how dangerous this mission could be until now. “What are you idiots waiting for?” Bakugou pushed ahead, giving the group no choice but to follow him. Creeping in through the broken gate, the woods looked empty. “What do we have here?” an all too familiar voice laughed as they shuffled in. Preparing for a fight, the students looked up to see a freckled boy sitting atop a branch in one of the trees closest to the open gate. He held the Nomu’s tracker in his hand as he looked down. “Deku! What the fuck have you been doing?” the explosive blonde demanded. Deku snorted, of course the hothead would be the one to jump the gun. He had purposely waited in the stupid overshirt that he wore with the words “hero hoodie” on it, despite the fabric being a jacket and him being a villain. Admittedly, he only wore it for dramatic effect as he unzipped it and dropped it onto the ground, revealing his dashing uniform.

He jumped down from the tree, landing directly on the jacket that he had thrown down. “What have I been doing? That’s cute, Kaachan, pretending to care about me. What I’ve been doing is surviving, adapting, learning,” the boy laughed. That proved Todoroki’s theory! Or so they thought… “I bet I know why you are here, all of you. ‘He lived his entire life wanting to be a hero, there’s no way he’d be a villain!’” Deku mocked, “‘He’s probably just forced to do what they say,’ or, ‘he could have been kidnapped’.” The villain had hit all of the main points, looking back at the group who was practically leaning forward in anticipation. “Well you’re wrong~!” he chimed like a bell, smiling as their faces were taken over by shock. “Funny enough, I actually was kidnapped- for thirteen days, and you want to know what they did?” he looked to the crowd, especially Bakugou, who had known that something was up, “They tested drugs using my body. I was strapped to a metal table for thirteen days as they administered twenty six different drugs at random intervals, and never ONCE did a hero ever come to save me.” He spat, “I cried and screamed, waiting for a glimmer of hope. You want to know how I got out?” Deku paused as he waited for the “H-how?” that eventually came from Kirishima. “They got tired of me,” the young villain laughed bitterly, “I was told that I could home and see my mom, so long as I visited them when they requested, and, of course, I said yes. My mom was the only light I had left in my life, and you want to know what happened to her?” the group knew where the story was going, but they weren’t expecting it to be as bad as he told it, “She was killed by a hero who wasn’t paying any goddamned attention to what the fuck he was doing! He was chasing a fucking purse thief, and it caused my mom her life! I had to watch her die in my arms!”

“I went to the League willingly, and I intend to stay here. If you have a problem with that, come and get me hero wannabes,” Deku grabbed his jacket and slipped even deeper into the thick trees. “Deku, get your ass back here!” Bakugou ran forward, all according to plan. The villain waited behind a tree, pouring the mysterious liquid into his mouth and holding it there. He caught Bakugou by the throat and pushed their lips together, forcing the liquid from his mouth to the hero student’s. Once Bakugou was nearly about to pass out from lack of oxygen, Deku jumped back, watching as the blonde gasped for air only to breath in the liquid that was pushed into his mouth. He got the idea for that stunt based on what Toga said, “Are you interested in him, too?” of course he wasn’t, but his little game was perfect.

A fight is based on psychology; people’s mentality affects how they physically react. In movies or shows when the hero is about to lose something dear to them, they magically fight better, because they have more of a drive to fight. Bakugou, at the moment, was confused about several of Deku’s actions, and such plaguing emotions were hindering his movements as he chased the villain back through the trees. Deku was laughing as Bakugou raced forward. The drug was a quirk prohibiter, while it wasn’t advanced enough to last worth shit. Deku had found a way to numb the nerves responsible for quirk action. It was highly temporary and had no way of ever way of ever surpassing that stage, not to mention how much strain it would cause on the body if used for extended periods of time. Thankfully, all he needed to buy was fifteen minutes or so to carry out his plan.

Bakugou managed to catch up just before the treeline, where his friends were waiting. The students had wandered into the thick brush slightly, catching the blonde flash of hair. Bakugou threw a punch heading directly towards Deku, but the villain saw it out of the corner of his eye, grinning as everything went according to plan. The boy whipped around, catching Bakugou’s fist in his palm. It didn’t matter since the blonde activated his quirk… except he didn’t. Deku laughed, clutching the fist in his palm and surging pressure to throw Bakugou backwards. He had a couple of minutes to kill before his quirk came back as well, since Deku had ingested a bit of the liquid himself. Bakugou bore holes in his hand as he tried to activate his quirk, doing exactly what he would usually do to kindle the cackling in his palm. “How does it feel, Kaachan? Being quirkless, helpless, at least you’ve got friends to back you up if I did seriously consider killing you,” Deku was only waiting for when Bakugou was going to jump back up; he wasn’t going to admit defeat that easily. “Too bad I never had that- friends, that is. Well, I had you- if you could even count that anytime after the start of elementary school, but, hey, at least you were always there,” the boy leaned forward to look at Bakugou, no doubt strengthening the idea that this was his fault.

The blonde hero student lunged once more, though Deku was completely expecting it. He grabbed Bakugou’s wrist and spun around, tossing him into the redhead that was dragged along. Kirishima and Todoroki were the only two closest to the scene, since Iida and Yaoyorozu had stayed up near the gate in case they did need to run for help or call the pros. Kirishima caught his friend, trying not to double over backwards at the force Deku had used. The villain could feel the malicion burning in his veins, telling him that his quirk was back. The two in the back had heard Bakugou’s disgruntled yell and ran forward to check on the dilemma. “Everybody in their life has a point where they’d rather forget,” he began making his way towards Todoroki, though not outwardly admitting his plan. “Hatred, sorrow, regret, anger,” he began listing a few of the emotions that he could use. As he said “Fear,” his hand found their way to either side of Todoroki’s face, cupping the heterochromatic boy’s cheeks gently in his hands. Emerald orbs seemed to bore into his soul as Deku’s quirk forced him to live through all of the things plaguing the hero student’s mind, which was basically his entire childhood, in a single instant. Deku had to force himself not to flinch as he learned all of the things that made Todoroki tick. That, however, wasn’t his objective as he readied his quirk. Sheer agony shot through the entirety of Todoroki as he began reliving all of his childhood traumas at once.

Lines of ice and fire shot out in their respective directions as the hero student completely lost control of his quirk. His legs gave out from the sheer weight of his emotions, with Deku’s gentle hands guiding him to his knees. His powers shot up from the ground in fury and flurry as his screams echoed through the empty forest. Until it stopped. Deku pulled back everything that plagued the poor boy, catching him with open arms as he collapsed and fell forward. The villain was shaking trying to keep all of that energy stored inside of himself, “Leave, and his suffering ends for now. Stay, and I increase it tenfold,” he hissed, making his statement and putting fear into the students. “We’ll leave as soon as you give him back,” Kirishima was the first one to speak up, not allowing Iida any time for ‘I told you guys that this was a bad idea,’ ‘We should never have been here,’ ‘Our friend is hurt and it is our fault,’ or Yaoyorozu’s concerns, ‘What if you sneak up on us as we leave?’ ‘What is your objective?’ ‘Why should we trust you?’ All, no doubt, valid in one way or another, but that wasn’t what they needed. “I have no use for him,” Deku was extremely cautious when it came to not putting any strain on the boy as he delicately handed the boy to his redheaded friend, careful not to brush any of the redhead’s skin with his own.

The group had no choice but to leave, though their eyes followed the villainous boy as they made their way out. Midoriya’s trench deep gaze as deep was piercing and cold as it watched them leave, though he was actually focused on the boy sleeping so peacefully. Shouldering the entire burden of Todoroki’s past was heavy on Midoriya, but he stood up tall as if it didn’t affect him. Bakugou continued to look at his curled hands, attempting to regain his quirk. An excited grin on Bakugou’s face was proof enough that Deku had gone over his time limit. Of course Midoriya, or Deku rather, had figured that the blonde was going to charge forward the moment sparks ignited in his slick palms, but oh had he hoped that the boy would have enough sense to leave.  
“Dekuuuuuu!” hope was worthless.  
The villain had no choice but to fight, throwing up a wall of darkness. Bakugou’s cackling fists were slowly wearing down at the defense that Deku threw up, so he had no choice but to push back and send the blonde flying back towards the group that he was with. Out of the corner of his eye, Deku saw Todoroki flinch as his face twisted with discomfort. Shit. Bakugou’s attack had sent small pieces of Deku’s wall flying back to their owner. With one hand, he used the majority of what he had left to distract Bakugou so that he could open his stance up enough to recollect the pain that plagued the heterochromatic boy.

Kirishima, being the one holding the boy, noticed his movement, hearing the small whines of pain that left his lips. It didn’t take much to notice the thin mist of eerie purple that wisped its way over to them. He tried to move the boy in his arms, shifting so that whatever it might be wouldn’t hurt him. Hell, Kirishima even moved so that it would him instead, but it curved in every which way to reach Todoroki. “Guys, something’s off,” he announced to the group, unsure of what exactly that something was. When he saw “Deku”’s open stance it hit him: this substance was his quirk, and it had something to do with pain(?) “Bakubro! Dude! You need to stop!” he couldn’t figure out a way to convey to the explosive blonde that was now wearing through Deku’s one handed defenses that, by hurting Deku, he was hurting Todoroki. Uraraka and Yaoyorozu were right beside him, trying to comfort the heterochromatic boy, while Iida could only watch as a part of his world shattered.

This boy did more to defeat Stain, a villain, than he, a hero-in-training, did! This boy had saved his life and his pride, but here he was warping the darkness around him and fighting against Bakugou! It was his idea to text Todoroki to call for backup, but now the kid was the one taking him down. All Iida could do was watch in shock. He couldn’t be like Bakugou, restlessly fighting back with a barrage of attacks. He wasn’t Kirishima, clutching Todoroki’s body as he began to unravel the scene before them. He wasn’t Uraraka, gently coaxing the unconscious boy in attempts to calm his nerves. No. Iida was even more useless than Todoroki, who quite literally couldn’t move; at least the boy was helping them get a grasp on this “Deku” boy’s quirk.

Midoriya, er Deku, was trying! He was goddamned trying! Bakugou’s explosions were wearing down at his own attacks just as fast as he was collecting the debris, and this wasn’t working! The villainous boy jumped back waving his hands to gather up all of Todoroki’s negativity. He split them up into little balls, trapping Bakugou in a small space before they outfolded into chains that wrapped around his body. The blonde could no longer move, but that didn’t mean there was no struggle. He refused to believe what he saw! “Deku” was a pathetic weakling! “Deku” was quirkless! “Deku” was dead! So who was the boy in front of him? However, he also couldn’t shake the feeling that this was his fault. “I tried to do this the easy way! But of course, that was my mistake, right Kaachan?” he always tried to do things the easy way. When Bakugou was upset, he’d suck up or stay out of sight; he never said anything about the bullying; he never did anything about the bullying; he judy accepted it and quietly hoped that it would go away. It never did.

The tables were turned now as Deku held Bakugou in a deadly vice, with a threatening band of darkness curling around his neck. “I’m going to let go, and you’re going to leave,” he tightened the grip on Bakugou’s neck a bit more, “Understand?” he spat. “Fuck you, Deku,” what else was he expecting? Letting out a sigh, the villainous boy strode over to the blonde’s classmates, friends might have been a stretch. The redhead had handed Todoroki over to engine legs- jeez it would be a lot better if Midoriya could remember their names. He had written them down in his books, but all he could remember were their quirks. Despite that, Engine now held Todoroki, the only name Deku actually knew, with Zero Gravity and Creator standing beside him in an attempt to make the unconscious boy feel better. Hardening- the one Midoriya wished that he knew most of all, since referring to the boy like that just seemed awkward- looked like he was ready for a fight, but his fists weren’t raised. “If I have to say it one more time-” Deku threatened with a low growl, throwing Bakugou to the ground at the redhead’s feet. “Leave,” he demanded with a hiss, recalling all of Todoroki’s pain before it could hit the boy. The pain would more than likely be too much to bear, if his entire shitty childhood hit him in a single instant.

Once they left, he sat down with a buzzing mind. Midoriya was so tired of this facade, of this game, of this quirk, of this everything! Life was so simple when he was just a quirkless hero fanboy, helping old people cross the street. Now he had to strategize, no longer about how to be the best hero that he could be, but rather how to get under people’s skin. His brain was packed with chemicals and hero flaws. It was awful. All he could think about, listening to the mechanical buzz off in the distance, was how disappointed his mom would be in him if she were still alive. It was sad how often he thought like that. With blood and muddy water staining his hands, he looked down at his clean fingers and the small teardrops that peppered his skin like freckles.


	23. (Filler) A Christmas With Sociopaths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An offshoot, in-universe oneshot about them celebrating Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have had enough angst for now, so take this break to enjoy a soft boy. Don't worry, next chapter will be a normal, pain filled chapter with just enough time to start the new year in tears!

Snow fell outside the hideout, covering Midoriya’s wild forest locks as he trudged through the alleyway. December hit like the car from chapter one. The fluttery, white powder stuck to the ground, and Midoriya swore that he could still hear the stupid Christmas music from the streets that he had just left. It was just his luck to go shopping, not to mention live near, one of the few streets that was super hype for the holiday he used to love. He would remember all of the time he would spend thinking up a gift for his mom, and how he would always get so excited looking at the lights that they had decorating the walls. Even though it was just him and his mom, they always lit up the house as if they were expecting fifty guests. The month of December was spent preparing for the holiday.

A crumbling gingerbread house, falling through small, sticky hands as the icing was far too warm to use it, but Izuku was just too impatient, looking up at Inko with a disgruntled look on his tiny, freckled face. “Moooom,” he whined, fully knowing that this was his fault and that his mom wasn’t going to do anything but laugh. “I don’t think real estate is your specialty, Izuku,” she giggled, holding up a camera to take a picture. After waiting for what felt like forever, young Izuku rejoiced as he moved his hands back after peeling them from the cookie walls that finally stuck together. “Mom! I did it!” bubbly laughter overflowed from his excited lips, “Now it’s time to decorate it!” - That was the first gingerbread house that he had ever made. He was four years old and had just gotten his face shoved into the dirt. Inko proposed the idea to see her son smile again.

Midoriya smiled fondly at the memory, though the curve quickly turned sickly and sour with bitterness. His mom wasn’t here anymore. He had never gone a Christmas without her; hell, she was the only one that he ever celebrated Christmas with! Mitsuki and Masaru would sometimes bring over cookies or sweet treats the week around the holiday, but it had always been just Midoriya and his mom. Sitting under a starlit night of vibrant colors draped across the ceiling and along the walls, they were happy.

The smell of sugar wafted through the air, tickling Izuku’s nose. It was December first! He rolled out of bed, slightly larger feet bounding through the hallways, still in his pajamas and ready to help his mom make Christmas cookies. They weren’t so much as Christmas cookies, rather, they were better described as December cookies, since there was no way that those would last any time near Christmas. Izuku looked up at Inko, seven year old emerald orbs gleaming with joy, ready to help her in any way that he could. It was another tradition to make him feel better, though this one started when he was five; the year that he learned that he was born quirkless. Nonetheless, none of that mattered as he valiantly pulled a stool up to the countertop, with the ugly screeching of the friction wasn’t even white noise as he bounced with every step. Inko always flinched when her son would pull up the stool, shrugging it off and laughing when bouncing forest curls would come into view. Her son’s face was as bright as it would be if he were staring at the computer screen, watching a hero save lives like they always did. Inko had always done everything that she could to ensure Izuku’s happiness, and he knew that, whether it was playing hero or just watching hero flicks on the tv screen while curled up in a cavern of blankets. The ding of the first batch of cookies leaving the oven always brought mischievous grins to their faces as they pulled out the tray of blobish cookies that rarely looked like the hero cookie cutters that were used to shape them.

Izuku remembered the first All Might Christmas cookie that his mom had made for him. The cookie cutter was meant to be a stocking stuffer, but Inko needed something to cheer her boy up. Izuku had dumbly expressed his hopes of becoming a hero to the leering, sneering fifth graders who were bullying a second grader. Izuku was six, quirkless, and nowhere near as tall as the looming group that was looking down their noses just to see his wild forest locks. He knew that he wasn’t Bakugou, who could beat up the fifth graders in the first grade, nor was he any of the powerful heroes that he saw on tv or fighting in the streets. However, he just wasn’t smart enough to act upon the knowledge that he couldn’t do it. “Aren’t you that quirkless kid?” they laughed toxically, as if there was anyone else fitting his specific description. This, of course, ended in Midoriya getting pushed down the stairs, but hey, the bullies left their original victim alone. Disheartened nonetheless, he went home, wiping the blood from his nose and sniffling back tears. Inko noticed this and immediately dug out the cookie cutter, knowing that her son was going to give her enough time to start making the cookies. It didn’t sit well with her knowing that her son was in his room crying alone, but the hero shaped cookies were sure to make him feel better.

Tearful eyes popped out of their place from the covers to reassure his nose that there was, in fact, the smell of cookies in the air. Young Izuku carefully crawled out from the covers, rubbing his eyes dry and trying to hide the obvious bruises on his face with his hands. “Never fear!” his mom all but yelled, holding up a warm cookie that was the closest to the hero it was supposed to be, “For I am here!” she finished the catchphrase, revealing her face from behind the cookie, smiling from ear to ear. Izuku almost immediately replicated the smile, forgetting the pain from his bruises and rushing forward to hug his mom’s legs. “I’ve got something to put on those,” she gestured to the black and blue bruise on Izuku’s cheek, “I’ll go grab them while you enjoy your cookies.” Ruffling eccentric forest locks, Inko grinned before going to the medical cabinet. Needless to say, she was not expecting to come back to Izuku crying once again, “Mom, I can’t eat All Might!” Inko just laughed, ruffling her son’s hair once more, “It’s just a cookie, sweetheart, don’t worry. I’m sure All Might would understand,” she reassured with a smile. “You do make really good cookies, Mom,” he sniffled, hesitantly biting into the cookie.

While the trip down memory lane was fun for Midoriya, he was now Deku and covered in snow from standing outside for fifteen minutes just recalling the past. Shaking his head to clear it, both mentally and physically, Midoriya strode forward carefully as to not slip on the slick walkway in front of him. He could still hear the cheerful music taunting him with its up beats and haunting echo. He could have almost sworn that the sound was coming from somewhere closer than the street that was far behind him, but the only inhabited building nearby was the hideout.

“I am not putting on that stupid thing!” Dabi shouted the moment Midoriya made the mistake of opening the door. Shigaraki stood with a stupid pair of plush antlers with little bells on them stuck to a headband, all but chasing the hot headed boy around the hideout. “Just do it!” the man complained; he had gotten almost everybody to wear something “Christmas themed.” Kurogiri wore a red coat with the fluffy white trimmings, though he seemed less than amused about their leader’s enthusiasm. Twice wore a sweater that was just a mass mush of colors that didn’t quite go together, but it looked like something that could be passed off as a “style.” Instead of her typical blue jeans, Magne wore ones that were bright red, with heeled red boots that came up to mid calf. She had a pastel pink shirt on under a green blazer and stood ‘tsk’ing Dabi’s insistency; she was just lucky that Shigaraki accepted her outfit because of the color scheme. Mr. Compress wore his typical trench coat only it was a cherry red, perfect for blending in. Spinner was forced to wear an ugly, green sweater with a pine tree outlined in red on the center and white letters that said “old school Christmas tree” on it, and he looked miserable. Shigaraki, himself, was wearing a green button up with golden buttons and a white collar paired with a black belt and plain green pants.

“What did I just walk into?” the dazed boy questioned absentmindedly as he walked into take in the chaotic setting. Cheerful music was bubbling from a, no doubt stolen, stereo; there were flashy lights strung up across the hideout with miscellaneous hands randomly clinging to the string; and, of course, everyone’s festive apparel. Toga popped into view, wearing just about the skimpiest dress that she could find; the blonde girl wore a sleeveless red dress that came down to her mid-thigh when she wasn’t moving with fluffy, white trim on the top and bottom. She had red gloves that stretched to elbow and short, ankle cut red boots. “It’s the first of December!” she beamed as if the first of December was some type of holiday. “Since we have such a large group, we can celebrate Christmas!” Shigaraki beamed so out-of-characteristically, still clutching the antlers as he tried to put them on Dabi’s head. Midoriya started giggling, looking around; so, he wasn’t skipping Christmas this year after all. “A misfit Christmas,” he announced, though mostly to himself, looking around a the group who had accepted him, “It’s gonna be weird celebrating with more than just my mom, but, hey, I’m down.” Midoriya could have sworn that the room got brighter as he shrugged his way into the holiday spirit.

The next day, they looked for a new activity, “Well since we don’t have an oven, we can’t bake cookies, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t decorate them!” Midoriya announced, looking down at the assortment of icings that he had bought as well as the blank cookies they ordered from a local bakery. Of course, Midoriya was the one who had to do all of the outside work, since the others drew too much attention. Magne offered to help him, since she was the most normal out of the zoo crew, but Midoriya politely declined. “You’re a lot taller, and have a habit of sticking out in a crowd. Not to mention, you have a lot of presence; when you walk in the room, there’s this uncanny urge to turn towards the door to see who just walked in,” he explained sincerely, though Magne wasn’t one to argue with flattery. “I, however, am short and have virtually no presence at all!” he chimed like a bell as if he was saying a compliment. He wasn’t wrong, though, it was much easier for him to grab all of the supplies alone than with someone else.

The decorating itself was a mess. Spinner and Toga were decorating their cookies like five year olds, seeing how much icing they could put on a single cookie. Twice was in the same boat, though not intentionally. He would go to make a cookie, but he could never decide on what he wanted to make. In the end, he mostly just decided to make a mess. Dabi was complaining how much he hated sweet things as he continued to eat various cookies that the other two children made, occasionally sneaking a few of Twice’s cookies when he wasn’t looking. Kurogiri was icing the cookies as if they were normal, non-holiday cookies, since he wasn’t much for the excess holiday decor. Shigaraki was attempting to make holiday-looking cookies, but he sucked at dainty tasks such as this. He would put too much icing, put not enough icing, curve lines that were supposed to be straight, straighten lines that were supposed to be curved, and generally mess up little things until his cookies were vaguely holiday blobs. Magne’s cookies were design-based and looked amazing! She had various swirls and cutely decorated trees and stockings, paired with perfect coloring and precision. Midoriya’s cookies weren’t half bad, seeing as he had been doing this every year for just about as long as he could remember. His cookies looked like what Shigaraki wanted his to look like, and the male was quite jealous of that.

One thing led to another; Shigaraki purposefully messed up Midoriya’s cookies, and Midoriya threw a blob of icing at him. Now, Toga and Dabi were wearing red icing as warpaint, Magne was trying to save her beautiful cookies, Kurogiri was groaning at the mess he would have to clean up later, and Shigaraki announced an icing fight. Mr. Compress was even getting into it, bubbling bits of icing and sending them flying. Toga was just covering everyone in all of the red icing that she could find, to make up for the lack of blood in the fight. Spinner was just screaming as he attempted to dodge the flying icing. Twice alternated between dodging and firing, which would have been a good strategy had he not been doing it as haphazardly as he was. Midoriya stood on the table, carefully avoiding stepping on any cookies as he dodged Shigaraki’s attacks. Toga stepped up to challenge the young boy head on, racing forward with a handful of red icing. Midoriya just barely dodged, placing one hand on the back of the table and grabbing blue icing with the other. He reached up, smearing blue across Toga’s neck as she attempted to jump back. Shigaraki saw the opportunity and took it, throwing a glob forward that almost hit Midoriya, though the boy dodged in the last second. This went on until Midoriya fell backwards, just barely caught in Magne’s arms. In the moment, she wasn’t feeling anything other than positivity, looking at the beautiful mess that her fellow villains made with multicolored icing. “Are you done?” Kurogiri stood by the bar, looking at the mess with his arms crossed.

Determined not to have yet another mess to clean up, the League actually planned the activity a few days later. Kurogiri and Shigaraki were in charge of building one of the gingerbread houses, while Midoriya and Mr. Compress were in charge of the second. The children were given one house while Midoriya, Kurogiri, Mr. Compress, and Magne were decorating the second house. “No! That looks terrible!” Shigaraki complained as Dabi shamelessly messed up the almost elegant design on the roof by messing up the pattern that Shigaraki had attempted to make. Spinner and Toga were munching on the candies as they “decorated,” merely sticking a bunch of colorful candies on to a designated part of the house. Twice’s part of the house didn’t look too bad, despite how sloppily he was smushing colors and patterns together. Magne, Midoriya, Kurogiri, and Compress, however, were actually working together to create a masterpiece. Kurogiri was in charge of the yard, Magne was in charge of the roof, Midoriya was in charge of the two longer walls that stuck out from under the roof, and Mr. Compress was working on the shorter ends of the house. They worked around each other, sophisticated and coordinated, while occasionally laughing under their breath at the opposite group. Magne was the only one fully focused on her part of the house; she was really good at blocking out things, especially when it helped her focus more on things that she loved.

Needless to say, their gingerbread houses were put on display at the bar. Throughout the week, several people commented on them when they got drinks at the bar. Kurogiri was quite proud of the work that he had put into the gingerbread yard, and, while he wouldn’t admit it aloud, he enjoyed all of the gracious comments on the cookie house that he was so proud of. Shigaraki was happy that people liked the gingerbread house that he made as well. Those that weren’t aesthetic-based people would comment on how delicious it looked; while it wasn’t the most beautiful, it did have a good cookie; candy; icing ratio that would make it fun to bite into.

“It’s missing something,” Midoriya mumbled to himself, looking out at the decorated bar. Sure, it wasn’t easy to compare the bar to his mom’s house, but it seemed to be lacking something fundamental. “What’s it missing?” Kurogiri was listening to Midoriya’s mumbles, as he usually does since the boy has been known to bring up good points. They had the lights, strung from the ceiling in an aesthetic display; there were decorations on the wall, smiling back at him like the memories that they brought to mind; there was decor on the tables and the bar; but something just wasn’t there. “A tree!” he proclaimed to himself, “We don’t have a Christmas tree.” Looking at Kurogiri, they both has the same thought: they needed a tree. The ominous villain wouldn’t admit that he was actually extremely into this whole “Christmas” thing, but he was enjoying himself by indulging in this holiday; it made sense for him to have a ‘go big or go home’ attitude concerning this situation.

Kurogiri handed Midoriya an axe and warped him to a pine forest, as per request, letting the younger boy take over from there. Since Midoriya had the most Christmas knowledge of them all, he was often the one leading the festivities, which, not that the League would admit, often made them work out smoother than opportations led by others. The forest haired male shook snow out of his fluffy locks as he drug in a seven foot tall pine tree. He carried it to a corner of the bar that wasn’t occupied by a booth and began rushing back and forth to make it work. Midoriya propped the tree up against the corner carefully while he searched for something to help it stay upright. After finding a base, he grabbed a worn out blanket to put underneath it to catch the falling pine needles. “Now all it needs is decoration!” he happily announced, looking at the naked tree. “Decoration?” once again, Kurogiri found himself questioning the odd holiday customs.

Nonetheless, he called together the Alliance and followed Midoriya’s instructions on what decorations were needed. Magne and Midoriya were in charge of maintaining the tree throughout the week while all of the bar patrons were invited to hang up their own ornaments. Some brought actual ornaments; handmade ones, store bought ones, and decor new and old. Others brought objects to tie to the tree. Needless to say, keeping the poor pine decorated was a trial-and-error, as some saw it as a game. The bar was lively all throughout December, especially when the tree was up to decorate, but they were all told of the festivities that were going on December twenty fourth.

The chattering crowd sat in a circle around the tree, eleven thirty on the clock and several gifts underneath the tree. “Did everyone bring a gift?” Midoriya strode forward, leaning across the bar to get a better vantage point. The crowd mumbled and nodded, looking around. The young villain counted the heads, as well as the boxes, and wrote down each number up on a slip of paper. “This activity goes by many names, but all of them are confusing so we’re just going to call this a gift exchange. Everybody take a number,” Midoriya instructed as he held out a hat full of numbers. “So the way this works is: everybody has a number, and what that number means is when you will pick out a gift compared to everyone else. If you get number one, you go first. Two, second, and so on. What you’ll do when your number is called is you can either open a gift, or take,” he voided using the word ‘steal’ with this crowd, “a gift than someone else has already opened. There are some rules with gift taking,” a low groan rumbled the crowd: they were villains, why did they need rules? “Hey, we’re going for a fun game not a fucking bloodbath; rules are necessary,” he reprimanded, “You cannot take a gift that has been stolen more than three times; say I open a gift, and then Toga st-” he took in a breath awkwardly to dissuade the syllable he slipped up one; he was too use to explaining this to other people who always referred to it as ‘stealing,’ “Take the gift from me. However if someone else takes the gift, it is what we call ‘dead,’ and nobody else can take it. Understand?” he explained the rule of threes, though he would no doubt have to explain it again. “If a gift is taken from you, you can either take someone else’s gift or get a new one. You cannot, however, directly take something back. Are we following?” mumbles and louder calls of different variations of ‘yes’ were heard throughout the crowd.

Kurogiri was the first to go, thankfully since he was just about the only one who wouldn’t attempt to hold it over everyone as if it was the most important thing in the world. At one point, someone brought a knife- it was a gift- and the Alliance was just lucky that no heroes were out for the holidays, or they would have heard the screaming from the street. Toga, every chance she got, would steal Midoriya’s gift, though he wasn’t sure if that was because he used her as an example or if she was just being her usual psycho. At times, she would convince Twice that he absolutely needed her gift, just so that she could steal whatever Midoriya had. Thankfully for her, she found her happiness when he opened up a blanket, a surprisingly normal gift for a circle of sociopaths and psychos. Testing it out, he wrapped it around his shoulder, feeling the soft inner layer caress his shoulders. He was truly sad to see it go. Twice was the one who had the hardest time with the game; it wasn’t easy when he loved something that he loathed, that he didn’t mind, that he wanted, but didn’t want at the same time. It was, honestly, amusing to watch him play: he’d get really excited about his gift, but, when he sat down to say that was his final decision, he looked like a sad puppy.

Kurogiri ended up getting a set of kitchen ware, not like the knife that someone had brought, a stainless steel kitchen set, which was something that only he would like. Shigaraki ended up stealing a sweater that Midoriya opened, which Toga was mad at first, until she actually saw the sweater that was. Magne visibly flinched, seeing how ugly the sweater was. Not ever Midoriya would wear that thing. Mr. Compress ended up getting a deck of cards, something that he only got to keep because it went through two poker players before his turn came around. Magne got, a surprisingly normal gift, a gift card to a local sweet shop, which was the gift that Midoriya brought. Dabi, ironically, got an ice pack; an industrial grade ice pack, used for pulls and tears on construction sites. It, theoretically, would be helpful, since his quirk stores heat in his body before releasing it, despite the fact that he can’t control the temperature and sometimes burns his skin. Twice ended up getting a flashlight, which was just about the only thing that ‘he’ could agree on. Toga finished with her blanket, claiming that it smelled like Midoriya’s blood, which may have been because he accidentally backed into the bar earlier that day and reopened one of his wounds. Spinner ended up with some child’s board game that one of the mercs thought would be funny to bring, not expecting anyone to be genuinely enjoying their gift.

Needless to sat, the game took more than thirty minutes, but everyone had lasting memories of this Christmas they spent together.


	24. All For One, For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of angst for the new year!

“Time is of the essence!” a voice boomed, and the statement would have been correct if the reasoning were. The assumption that the League of Villains had kidnapped the missing students was far from true, but they had no way of knowing as they rallied the pros to storm the Villain Alliance’s hideout. “Our top priority is going to be to make sure the students are safe. Second priority is going to be cutting off all back up. The police investigation has shown suspicious activity in these places,” the pros nodded, listening intently for the roll out command. As they headed out, they were split into separate groups and given individual orders.

Meanwhile, the League was lounging in the bar area. “I wonder where Deku went,” Toga brought up the conversation, a bit unhappy not seeing the beat up boy. “Probably sulking,” Dabi cut in, still laughing at the joke that they had made before the boy left. “I just wonder what’s up with his fashion taste,” Magne was honestly concerned over just how bad his taste was. In her defense, it was the only thing she really knew about the boy, other than the fact that he was one of the ‘elder members’ in the League and was, apparently, quite terrifying in battle. “I don’t know, I kind of like it,” of course Shigaraki would; he lacked taste just as much as the younger villain. “I’m sure he’s spending his time wisely,” Kurogiri commented from the bar, washing the dishes from the day. He knew the kid as hardworking and ambitious, so he had full trust in the kid to make good- or… well, bad decisions. Kurogiri trusted Deku to forward their plan of calamity, as did All For One, who was watching through the screen. “I hope he comes home beat up again!” Toga, once again, popped in, beaming at the thought of boy bloodied and bruised in, as she would argue, his best form. “I hope not,” Magne argued, while she didn’t agree with his fashion taste, she wasn’t too fond of him in those mangled states that he somehow managed to get in. He could make himself pretty scary, and that was not something that she felt like seeing tonight. Spinner would argue the same, but he was almost always afraid of the kid, not that he would admit.

“Knock, knock! Camino Pizza!” who ordered pizza? Also Dabi and Twice were going to have to fight someone, because last time they tried to order pizza the stupid place said that Dabi was ‘out of delivery range,’ despite the fact that he was ordering from a good block away from the hideout, which was a lot closer to the stupid pizza place. Not to mention: who was Camino? Were they new? Pizza was a snack that Twice didn’t mind tearing himself apart to eat, and he didn’t say that about many foods. Hell, he wasn’t one for taking off his mask to do day to day chores sometimes. Mr. Compress was quite shocked about this as well, after hearing Twice and Dabi’s groaning on the day that they had to walk all the way to the stupid pizza place to get their food. Shigaraki was, admittedly, craving pizza at the time, wanting some of the comfort food to ease away the fact that their plan had failed. It was more or less for the fact that Deku had easily found every flaw possible with his plan and didn’t hold his tongue. Granted, chilling with the League was much better without the blonde brat that they would have to be babysitting had their plan succeeded. Spinner was all for pizza, at the moment, since he wasn’t one to turn down a good pizza. Magne was the only one in the room not actually in the mood for pizza. Rather, she was hoping that whoever ordered had remembered to get her a salad. Despite Spinner’s insistent protests, she was trying to watch her figure. Toga completely understood her woes, after they were explained, but she didn’t have the impulse control for that. Kurogiri, the only one in the room with sense, knew that ordering pizza to a location as remote as this was just asking for trouble. He also was fully aware that pizza places didn’t deliver to anywhere even close to here. Admittedly, he had tried it several times, since his form stands out way too much to actually walk into a pizza place, and Shigaraki wasn’t the easiest to deal with at times. He vowed that, if they ever had to move, the next hideout would have a stupid oven in it!

All Might’s fist completely demolished their wall as well as their peace and complacency. “Kurogiri!” Shigaraki attempted to call out, both knowing fully well what the address was meant for. However, he couldn’t react in enough time to capture his comrades without bringing Kamui with them. It didn’t help that his mind was swirling after being shoved up against the glass bottles of the bar behind him, dizzying his ability to think. Contrasting to his hidden frown, Dabi grinned, “Wood?” laughing at the fact they deliberately chose the pro, despite knowing the villain’s crispy quirk, “Not for long.” Gran Torino knew to target Dabi from the get-go, jumping forward the moment he saw the cocky boy. Knocking the back of his head with a deadly, swift kick, he silently thanked himself for making it in time. Obviously, bringing Kamui was a dangerous game with Dabi there, but he was one of the best for captures, especially ones as large as this. “You’re going to keep calm, if you value your own safety,” the old man tried not to sound to villainous with his words, though it did sound an awful lot like a threat.

Compress was the first to speak to the entire crowd, after being the only one, other than Kurogiri, paying attention to the press conference. He was always one for action and reaction, being on stage can do that to a person. “A-All Might?” well, shit, they were absolutely out of their league- no pun intended- “But the press conference just ended! This was timed!” It was a classic show trick, the idea of ‘warping time’ by taking the audience’s attention away for just enough time to change the scene. He was just a simple show actor, and his quirk certainly wasn’t anything that could combat All Might, not without preparation. Kamui Woods’ branches were too thick to combat, or even allow the villains movement at the current moment. Toga didn’t like the feeling of being tied up; it reminded her too much of times that she didn’t want to remember. More importantly, she hated the idea of prison or any form of capturement, for that matter. Twice was more annoyed with the situation than anything, fighting to pull back against the thick trunks. “Jeez, I’ve never worried about the push and pull of a tree!” he grumbled, leaning back against the pull as he dug his heels into the ground. The heroes, then, announced their entire plan, in an attempt to strike fear into the villains hearts, though it wasn’t as if they could do much with the knowledge.

“Cornered, ey?” Shigaraki spoke aloud, thinking of his plan like a video game. After struggling to come up with a good analogy for at least an hour, Kurogiri just couldn’t find a way to explain planning to the overgrown child. He had gotten fed up with it, turning to the master to find some way to convey the message. Through the static of the tv screen, “It’s like a video game,” of course, something Kurogiri would have never been able to offer. Midoriya just happened to stride through about that moment in an attempt to make it to his room. “Rather than a video game, it’s more like chess,” he cut in, “First you send out your weak pawns to take out their weak pawns, only using your stronger pawns when you need to. The key is remembering that your lost pawns aren’t coming back, and, unlike in a video game, it isn’t that easy to heal and there is no save mechanic,” he honestly hadn’t meant any ill intent towards All For One, who was smirking the entire time he talked. Thankfully, no one pointed out his insubordination, and the man behind the screen hadn’t seen it anything of a threat. “However, a video game analogy would work if you’re thinking about it with the idea of levels and experience points,” Thinking back, that might have been the reason that the powerful puppetmaster might have given Deku the quirk.

“Well, we aren’t the only playmates that you have to dance with,” the man who looked nothing short of a villain or corpse, turned to his teammate. They had been working on creating a Nomu army, “Let’s meet our support staff!” he called out, obviously referencing the fearsome beasts. This was why he hated being extravagant: it didn’t always work out. “I’m sorry, I can’t find them,” the overworked mom of the group tried to bring forth their companions, or pets as Deku called them. He made up this entire “family” hierarchy one day when he was bored. Kurogiri was the mom of the league, Compress was the cool uncle, Shigaraki was the bratty older brother, Magne was the big sister, Dabi was the rebellious teen brother, Toga was the demented younger sister, Spinner was the younger brother who still played with action figures, and Deku was the middle child- despite obviously being the youngest in the League with Mustard gone. Twice was the outgoing older brother, drunkard father, and the playful puppy, for some reason, since those were the only roles that fit his jutting personalities. Nonetheless, that didn’t change the fact that they were in deep shit.

Mt. Lady enjoyed wearing the truck like a glass slipper a bit too much as she took the precautionary measure. Stepping just enough forward to break down the wall, but not so much that she would risk hurting anyone inside. Being a fan of flashy things, the pro very much enjoyed slamming her foot down on the building, demolishing it as if it were a can that she crushed under steel toed boots. The pros sifted through the rubble, rescuing the quirkless Ragdoll and tying down the Nomu who were mindlessly waiting for completion. Mt. Lady couldn’t help complaining as she picked up the gross-looking creatures, knowing nothing of their twisted background. Of course, Jeanist took this time to take a stab at the pro. He was one of the, seemingly few, pro heroes who was a hero simply because he wanted to help people, rather than the fame, fortune, or government benefits, unlike the woman who was complaining about not being in All Might’s artillery group.

All For One watched through the tv, after having a feeling that something like this would happen. He hid underground, in a basement that the office buildings in the area didn’t have, where he and the rest of the Nomu’s awaited the pros’ inevitable recoil. Even if they didn’t end up capturing the hotheaded blonde, Deku wasn’t missing for nothing. He had figured from the moment that Shigaraki complained to him about how Midoriya seemed to know everything about Bakugou that he planned on sparking a dangerous flame into the hearts of the students. Once the students were no longer in their hospital beds, the nurses would worry. When the nurses worried, they’d call the pros. After the pros were called, the police would share the knowledge that they had managed to dig up, because their methods were about as dirty as Deku’s, back when he had a basic, designated job. All For One didn’t quite have a “warping” quirk, per se, but by utilizing a “transportation” quirk that he had given someone special, he would be able to bring the disposable pawns in places that they needed to be, and the important pawns to his side when the time called. 

“You’ve reached the end, Tomura Shigaraki!” All Might boldly declared, earning Spinner’s awkward shriek. “The End? Ha. This is only the beginning!” the male declared boldly as he began to spew his ideals, “Justice? Peace? If humanity was a jar, they’d be the lid- just vague ideals that somehow keep the filth within. To Smash through the thin glass, all we need to do is take out you,” while some could argue that it was stupid to announce their plan, he would argue that it was exactly what they needed. To declare something so bold was to sign one’s death certificate! Not to mention the fact that it was right to All Might’s face! However, the pro didn’t have any time to get a word in as the man continued, “I have been building a team, so, like it or not, this is where the story starts,” he shot a look to his teammate, “Kurogiri-” even with the binding and the falters in their plan, he had a plan B. Unfortunately, Edgeshot made sure that wasn’t an option as he rendered the warp artist useless by knocking him out. Mange was the first to notice, “Oh!” she all but shrieked, “Is he alive? I couldn’t even see the attack!” Edgeshot was grinning behind his mask, since it was actually super difficult to manage that without killing the victim or failing. “I just messed with his internal systems a bit. He’s merely unconscious, and no longer our biggest threat,” he was using what Bakugou had figured out, how he did have a “body” inside the flames of his appearance.

Gran Torino took over the conversation from there, saying each one of their names, other than Dabi who was forgotten on the floor, though they didn’t know his name to begin with so that worked out for the heroes. The villains looked at each other; they didn’t even know each other’s actual names, since they went by their villain names when in each other’s company. Three, sometimes four, people knew the actual names: Shigaraki, Kurogiri, One For All, and those that were brought in by Giran, him. “The police have been able to find out so much with so little time,” he announced, “So I’m sure that you understand where you stand. There is no where else for you to go.” Taking a bold gamble, he added, “So where is your boss?” Of course, being cornered like this brought up terrible memories for Shigaraki. Memories of his childhood, after his mom abandoned him. How the foster care system failed his poor soul. Weeks of laying on the streets, starving. No one was there. No one would help him.  
No one WAS THERE  
No one WOULD HELP HIM  
HE WAS ALONE  
ABANDONED  
THROWN AWAY LIKE A PIECE OF GARBAGE  
“Tenko Shimura, a poor child cast aside. It must be difficult, huh?” he was the only one who reached out to the kid, struggling to even slouch against the brick wall behind him. “Every day, people turned their heads, thinking that it wasn’t their place to do a hero’s job. A society so reliant on heroes, but who’s fault is that?” he offered the world to the boy; he offered him a chance.

It wasn’t as if he hated heroes for no reason; Shigaraki hated heroes because he was abandoned by them. “This can’t be, no, no, this can’t be,” he repeated over and over, mind buzzing even more with every repetition. “It’s over?” he echoed as if he couldn’t believe it. ‘It’s alright now’ soothing, comforting, peace. “Just like that,” ‘I’ll be your hero;’ hope. It was something that the small child had longed for. “Definitely not,” he couldn’t believe it, “Get off! Go away!” he wouldn’t believe it. “You- I hate you!” Shigaraki could only scream, launching his fury at the same instant that All For One launched his own Nomu.

The time called as All For One ensured the success of his most precious pawn. He shifted the playing board as he wished, assembling the pieces to let the combos activate themselves. He, of course, scolded the leader like a child, but offered hope once more. “This is yours,” he offered a hand out once more, just like he did back then. Of course, he didn’t plan on returning to his young disciple, but he knew that the boy would be able to harbor that hatred and strengthen himself with it. That was his entire plan. After being alive for about three hundred years, he wanted to break off his own life, and Shigaraki was just the perfect pawn. He was born a hero’s son, but cast away into a life of pain. He almost felt like a father, looking down at the boy who others would call a man, and recalling the sorry state of the kid when he was first found. Much like every One For All user, he watched this boy grow and develop, unlike the users however, he groomed this boy to spark a new era. In his late twenties, early thirties, he was about the same age as the users were when they laid in deathbed.


	25. Loyalty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cameras shine directly onto the fierce battle below. All For One versus the number one hero: All Might. His dwindling form contrasts his hot tongue, though both sides go through blows like a Marine target practice.
> 
> Our main character, heavily conflicted and fighting his inner feelings, looks up at the screen, watching as if his life depended on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness! I have not had a chance to breathe today, so finding time to post was a challenge. Next week might be a bit unstable in terms of updating, since I usually have at least a chapter written in advance, but this week I don't. I should have it written by then, but, just in case, don't be too shocked if chapter twenty five comes out on Sunday or something.

All For One grinned as he saw All Might crash to the ground before him. While this plan originally lead with their victory being the fact that they were the ones with child, he trusted Deku’s judgement enough to that he figured they would recruit him some other way- given if he actually is any good for the League. It would have been so much fun to break that boy’s fighting spirit; to crush him until he was broken just like the forest headed boy. He could practically see the duo fighting side by side, bloodied from the wounds of their enemies and each other. They could have brought a new era upon the world, at each other’s throats while they built a bridge of bodies. The thought excited him almost as much as the raspy, rage filled breaths of the hero in front of him. A sparkling infrared scan showed just how angry he was, and All For One could practically see his face, despite losing his vision long ago. He knew just how to push every one of All Might’s buttons, warping his desires into a need to kill rather than protect. He didn’t even need the Pussycat’s quirk to know All Might’s weaknesses, but what it did tell him was that One For All was dying inside of him. His body over time became too weak for the power that All For One had brought to life; as the eighth user of One For All, he had to maintain the power of not only himself, but also the power that the seven users before him poured into the quirk, and that wasn’t including the initial power that he gave to his poor younger brother. Unlike the pitiful shell of the “Symbol of Peace” that stood before him, All For One had already transferred his power to a successor. His body was dwindling from the years of life and all of the One For All users who fought him, so it was finally time for someone else to bring about the vision that he saw. Though he never quite knew how One For All would manifest in the next vessel, he trusted Shigaraki to use the power that he had at his disposal wisely.

Toshinori Yagi was surprisingly easy to distort, given all of the pent up rage that he harbored for the villain. Perhaps it was the eloquent way he pulled the strings on his little puppets, always staying two steps ahead of the heroes, or perhaps it was how Toshinori had to watch his master die right before his tearful, sky blue eyes. Either way, All For One danced around the dying hero, flaunting how much power he had over the man despite his dwindling form. Just like any other man, Toshinori had fears, fears of being not good enough; he had hatred, a burning fire that brought out bloodthirstiness; he had sorrow, the regret of how helplessly he watched the woman who was like a mother to him die right before his eyes; he had all of the pain from his childhood, from every person he failed to save; but, most of all, he had the desire to win. That was why All For One knew that he wasn’t going to make it back, but he was going to put on the best show possible, “Use all your might, for one of these swings will be your last,” he taunted, pushing the hero even farther into the rabbit hole. The cameras were broadcast him hovering overtop All Might’s dwindling form, his back so pitiful- as taken directly from Endeavor. This was going to be recorded as the “End of All Might,” the Symbol of Peace’s final battle. Oh how turmoil would cast a stone, like a boulder causing ripples in a lake.

The younger villain stealthily looked over his shoulder at the retreating group, wishing that he could ever be like them. However, that was a pipe dream. It was stupid and useless: ever thinking that he could be more that the mud on the sidewalk that people cursed about. Whether it be the quirkless kid getting spit on by society, or as the villain spitting on the graves of his kill: he was just a “Deku,” an outcast, a loner, a loser, and a disgrace. Midoriya broke down into a fit of coughing out the lump in his throat. His insides burned, but his skin felt like a layer of ice- only part of it because of the Todoroki’s memories lying dormant within him. Midoriya looked around, his skin was still bubbling with the purple aura around it as he sat back against the wall. He had won; this was his victory, so why, why, did he feel like he had just lost?

Gripping the boy’s woes, Midoriya began to playback a few of the memories. He passed through the childhood abuse, feeling the sting of each wound as if it was his own. What he focused on was the Todoroki’s feeling of helplessness in battle. He watched the boy overcome so many struggles as he fought with himself more than he fought with his opponent. This wasn’t like any of Dabi’s memories that he replayed when bored: this was his path to becoming a hero.

And it hurt.

It hurt to watch him, push forward like Midoriya had tried so hard to do. He was born quirkless, his best friend became his bully, every time he fell down, every cut or scrape on his knee, and for what? He had tried so hard to become a hero; he tried so hard to push forward, but, alas, here he was, sitting on the cold grass in an abandoned park just watching the city lights flicker like the stars that were chased out of the sky. He watched the students of the hero academy that he would have risked his life to go to fade out of view as they eventually became one with the crowd.

Taking that as his cue, Midoriya stood up, brushing off the dirt that clung to his attire. He glanced at the inky, purple aura surrounding his skin and realized that it would attract far too much attention; there was not way that he could make it back looking like this, even if half the people that he passed were far to drunk to even be standing. Recalling the group’s, honestly speaking, terrible disguises, Midoriya got an idea that was so damn stupid that it might just work. Thinking back to the redhead with the hardening quirk, he brought the, quite Cleary, fake horns that he wore. They were rather easy to recreate as Midoriya took his quirk and formed two pointed horns sticking out of his forehead. It wasn’t the best cover, but it would work as he walked out of the small bit of forestscape and into the streets before him.

It didn’t take too long for the young villain to notice every eye aimed upward as if the skies were on fire. It took even less time for his emerald orbs to find themselves doing the same in an attempt to find out what the commotion was about. The newscaster was silent, but the battle on the camera was roaring. Lighting cackled within thick dust, rolling in like storm clouds. Every so often, they would begin to dissipate, and that’s when Midoriya saw what was going on.

All Might stood in a small, ragged form, bloodied and bruised to the point where he looked like he was barely standing. The man adjacent to him looked as if he was hooked up to hospital equipment and broke free. His face was warped, as was his arm that looked like it was just a jumble of other arms. Even through the screen, Midoriya felt a deathly wave of nausea crash over him: that was All For One.

All For One was fighting All Might, and, from the looks of it, he was winning. Deep down, Midoriya knew that All For One was far too weak to truly take down the Symbol Of Peace unscathed, but fear overtook the boy’s stance as he looked up, frozen in anticipation. He knew who’s side he was on, or, rather, who’s side he should be on. As a villain, he should be overjoyed! The Symbol Of Peace is finally going to fall, and the hierarchy will crumble along with it.

So why did it hurt so much?

Why, despite everything that he had been through-  
Despite how his hero had told him to give up on his dreams-  
Despite every time a hero wasn’t there to save him-  
Despite how a hero was the one to bring his mom, the light of his life, to her deathbed-  
Despite how his saving grace had been the outstretched hand of a villain-  
Despite how hurt he was, despite every time he was abandoned, despite every time he was left to die by a self righteous hero who failed to save him-

Why was he routing for the Symbol Of Peace?


	26. Warning

The move wasn’t too difficult, other than Shigaraki’s whining. All For One had a safe space hidden for them beforehand where they could relocate. Of course, their new leader didn’t want to believe that his precious person went into battle with the intent of not returning, but it was what it was. Midoriya had the most difficult time with the move, seeing as how he actually lived at the headquarters. It took forever to scavenge for his notes, carefully distracting any righteous bodies who were attempting to search the old bar for clues. He threw stones and rustled rubble so much that even the authorities began to think that the building was haunted. Thankfully, he was able to salvage most of his notes, and the chemicals that spilled dried up nicely. The smell still vaguely lingered, stale in the air, but the room was still intact despite the overlap of reactive substances. He figured that leaving it there was fine, since they were far too vast to have any conclusions drawn connecting them. Nonetheless with what little they could salvage, the League packed up and moved.

“It’s not a good idea to move just yet,” Midoriya said into the circle of villains as they sat around the new hideout. “What makes you say that? All Might’s reign is finally over, now’s an ideal time to move,” Spinner argued, not looking past the idea that anyone with a shadow in their heart would think the same thing. Shigaraki knew why they weren’t doing anything other than searching for potential allies to join their ranks, but, for him, it was still sinking in that he was now the official leader of the League. It was a solemn mix of the idea that the only person who brought him in had just left, and the pride that he had concerning the “family” that he had created. Either way, he was still sulking, “That’s what every bum off the street is thinking. Do you realize how much crime rates have risen already? Petty thievery is more common than clouds in the sky, and ‘villainy’ is becoming more common due to the sheer fact that it seems easier. We don’t need a bunch of low level characters, nor do we need to act with a horde,” Midoriya explained, instead, attempting not to hiss at those who would turn to crime for such a low reason. Even the people in the League weren’t villains by choice; they were true villains, those cast aside by society and left with no choice other than to crawl back to the surface with bloodied hands.

For a sinister group of anarchists with no objective other than to get revenge on society, they spent much more time hanging out than they did planning. Of course when they split paths, all hell went loose, but the rejects wanted nothing more than a place to feel safe. Toga sat down on Midoriya’s lap, tapping the screen of some mobile game that she was given. It was a strategy based game, attempting to teach her the tactical use of chain reactions and cause and effect. She grumbled at the screen, clearly dissatisfied with the way the game was turning out. “Do you need some help?” Midoriya offered, trying to smother the laughter in his throat at her clear distress. His mom used to play those to ease her boredom or relax, but they clearly didn’t have the same effect for everyone, “I just don’t get it,” she whined. He had no choice but to soothe the girl, “Here, let me help,” pointing out little things and working her through the game.

“He is a dangerous criminal with unknown intentions,” the pro hero explained to his class, “But there are rumors that they have something to do with the students of this school. Why? We don’t know.” Aizawa sighed, looking at the image of the frail looking boy, who was no older than the students in his class. The picture was paused video footage of Midoriya walking down the street just after he had made his opening statement. Several faces were turned towards the ground, refusing to look at the picture of a forest haired boy, standing by the body of some C-listed hero. Those that knew the backstory of the boy recognized that “hero” as the one who took the life of Inko Midoriya. “We have an idea of his identity, but his quirk is a complete mystery,” he purposefully avoided mentioning the fact that the boy was formerly quirkless, lest the students find out too much information. All For One was a deadly man with a dangerous quirk, and locked up deep in the underground cell; it was nothing that the hero students needed to concern themselves with, neither did they need to question why the quirk was given away in the first place.

Emotional ataxia fell upon the class like a stone settling in someone’s stomach, not budging as the rushing acid did nothing to battle the unpleasancy and only brought discomfort. Across the board, Shoji and Tokoyami both felt the urge to look at each other, recognizing the picture from when they ran into him back in the Pussycat’s forest training area. Though neither of them moved on it, the raven headed boy blinked with knowing confusion. Shoji had told him about how he was pushed forward by the determination and encouragement in those once shining emerald eyes. Both boys were well aware of the likelihood of that he was, in fact, a villain, given the fact that he was there in the first place and the timing of which he was there. That didn’t make it less hard to believe, after seeing his “heroic” actions that night.

Although, they were more believing than Yaoyorozu who had only seen the actions of the boy the night that she chased after him. She truly wanted to believe that the classmates that she had gone after him with had their hearts in the right places, but it was difficult when it seemed that his heart was nothing but villainous in all of the important places. A part of that group, Iida contested her view, being in complete denial. He just couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that someone who fought to take down the Hero Killer would kill a hero themselves. Surely it had to be more than justified?

Kiminari found himself poked awake. He yawned, shutting his eyes tightly and stretching inconspicuously, as if he was been awake the entire time. Ashido Mina barely caught the look on his face when he actually saw the boy. His face dropped, tracing the wild, fluffy locks, the explosion of freckles across his nose, and the piercing, yet soft, emerald eyes. Stealthily slipping his phone out, the electric blonde pulled up his camera roll and, sure enough, there was a picture of the exact same boy, fast asleep on the train.

Kirishima had all but forgotten about that, refusing to actually look at the picture on the screen. He knew from the moment that Aizawa started talking, when he first brought up the new villain, that it was the boy that their group had gone out to chase.  
Was it remorse?  
That wasn’t quite the feeling that he felt; Kirishima did regret chasing after the obvious trap, but that wasn’t the heaviness plaguing his gut. Oddly, the only thing in the picture that he looked at was the body in the corner of the picture. Funny how he would rather look at a dead person than one that was alive. His ears rang with the stories that the villain had told him, and, even though he wasn’t one of the few who did look into the boy’s backstory, Kirishima could assume that the body laying on the ground at the boy’s feet was the hero who took his mother from him.  
Was it sympathy?  
Did he sympathize with a villain? How would he react if the heroes that he loved abandoned him? If he wasn’t influenced by Mina, or Crimson Riot, or any of the day-to-day heroes that would show up on tv and make everyone smile? What if he wasn’t inspired by the boy he saw stand up to a bully, not for himself, but for the kid who was on the ground beside him? He wouldn’t be at Yuuei, that’s for sure, but would he be a villain?  
He’d like to think no.  
However, that wasn’t the end of the story for the boy, and those haunting words continued to bounce around in Kirishima’s skull, so much so that Aizawa’s words became nothing but white noise in background.

“What we do know is that his quirk is powerful. Whatever it is that he manipulates is unlike any typical substance, but it is apparent that he has been training with it well,” the fear and heaviness in the air was practically palpable. It wasn’t even a fear of who the villain was, but rather, the fear of why the villain was. A student raised their hand, not bothering to wait on Aizawa to call on them before speaking up, “What do we do if we ever run into him?” Those that had already seen him in person attempted not to flinch or rise up. Bakugou bit his lip until he could taste the metallic liquid on his tongue just to keep from jumping up.

Todoroki opened his mouth as if he had something to say, though it was more of a sudden, impulsive urge rather than the need to get a word in. He and Aizawa made direct eye contact before the boy sharply averted his gaze and clamped his mouth shut. He vividly recalled the stern backlash that he received whilst in the hospital bed, after suffering from what the doctors diagnosed as amnesia. Concern, worry, and protectiveness could be heard in Aizawa’s voice, “Always call for backup. Never try to face him on your own. That, we know for sure,” his stern voice was like a knife on the kitchen counter; the words were sharp, as was the intent behind them, but it wasn’t directly threatening. “Unfortunately, there are quite a few pros that it doesn’t sit well with them, hunting down a villain this young, so your safety isn’t as secure as we’d like it to be. Which brings me to our next topic-”

“The Provisional Hero License test,” Midoriya had pulled Toga aside to ask for her help regarding the next step in his plan, “It’s a good place to get updated information, which is something that we could really use going forward.” The blonde girl nodded, only awaiting Midoriya’s actual instruction. She was the only one in the League who could successfully pull this off, given her metamorphosis quirk. He had debated recruiting Twice, but the specifications of his quirk were too risky for their operation. Nonetheless, “A bunch of students from the top hero schools will be going through a set of trials. Those that pass will be given the ability to help with actual hero work. I can find you a candidate, but it’s going to be your job to impersonate them and get intel on the students. Report anything and everything that you see to me, understood?” he grinned, seeing Toga’s eager smile.


	27. Befall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains graphic attempted rape! If this displeases you or is uncomfortable for any reason, just read the notes at the end of the chapter. It occurs just after Midoriya comments on what would have happened if he had taken the train and continues until the end of the chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> I got this out a lot quicker than I thought I would, since I forced myself up earlier this morning. You're welcome, because I wanted to sleep until noon at least. Nonetheless, enjoy!

Midoriya awoke uncomfortably from where he dozed off on the chair. Since things were just now settling in the new location, sleeping arrangements weren’t exactly the most worked out. It didn’t help that he was still trying to rewrite a few of the crumpled notes that were damaged. Honestly, he had just enough of being cooped up in the stupid hideout! “It couldn’t be helped,” he was told, “His face was all over the news,” and, sure, it was, and, yes, going outside would be dangerous if he wasn’t careful. However, being trapped was just making him antsy, and that made Shigaraki on edge as well- which was no good for anyone. The young villain groaned, rolling out of the seat and tucking his notes away, “I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back by my shift.” Kurogiri only nodded, knowing that keeping Midoriya inside was no good for anyone.

Opening the door, the young villain got set to memorize the new layout of the backroads. In turn, Midoriya carefully turned each corner, know that the bar’s reputation of being a fearful force hadn’t quite bled out yet, so he needed to tread carefully. He carried his messenger bag close beside him as he navigated to the main streets and on to the shopping center. A silent hope lay within him; he hoped that he wouldn’t run into any more UA students like he did last time. All he needed was to fall asleep on some future hero’s shoulder with a ‘wanted fugitive’ stamped over his face.

Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case as he slump through the crowds at the train station. Carefully, Midoriya informed himself of all of the cameras and how to stay out of their line of vision. Being short helped greatly as he forced his head down to trail the ground while his eyes scanned his slightly limited vision. The halls were crowded, but, as usual, everyone was too self centered to pay any mind to a short, plain looking kid in a grey hoodie. It was funny how a person being self centered came in handy sometimes. After the opening scene, he stood throughout the train ride, watching the sights pass by at high speeds. The faces on the train were monotone and bleak, as if they had no features at all to Midoriya’s eyes. Of course, he was most likely just passing colors to everyone; it was a perfect metaphor for life.

The moment the train stopped, Midoriya weaved his way through the crowd easily, keeping his head down and out of sight. Several people around him spoke in hushed voices, “Honestly, I’m kind of scared to even go out with crime rates this high.” Their woes were fully justified, seeing as the crime rates were even high than they were before All Might became the Symbol Of Peace. Petty thieves were as common as socks with sandals, and that was an unfortunate truth. “I’m worried about the security of my job,” in times when any shop could be next, anxiety about work gripped the air. Walking down the street, Midoriya noticed just how many shops shortened their hours, so that, in the event of a robbery, no one would be around to get hurt. For just the opposite reason, some stores lengthened their hours, so that there was always someone watching their inventory.

Even with this newfound wariness, it couldn’t stop things like the crunch between Midoriya’s feet. Shards of glass nearly covered the sidewalk in front of one shop window. There was a large hole in the center of the window: the source of the glass, no doubt where some thief broke through or was thrown through. The parts of the window that weren’t broken had spider web like cracks spread out from the epicenter; it looked as if some kid had thrown a rock at some spider’s home and hit a direct bullseye. Midoriya scoffed under his breath as the people behind him crossed the street just to avoid the shattered window. As if he was controlled by some outside force, Midoriya stopped on the glass, right in front of the hole. His scarred hand tracked the silk cracks while they led him to the gaping hole. Time stopped around the boy as he truly felt in the moment with the curved grooved beneath his fingertips. The young boy was stopped by an idea, compelling him to take out a piece of his notebook and begin scribbling on it.

“Repair the broken part with stained glass (xxx-xxx-xxxx is a good place to start), and put (glass protectant) on the cracks. It’s sure to attract plenty of people!! <3”

The girlish way of writing was out of character, but it would work to disguise his handwriting. Of course, there was always the fact that people typically listened to girl’s design input over a male’s. He crumpled up the paper and threw it just enough to get it through the hole in the window and onto the ground below. The store manager would see it when the shop opened up later that day, and would most likely consider it- the crumpled up paper- as a threat, but, after reading, Midoriya was sure they’d listen, or at least consider. Running his finger along the edges of the glass, Midoriya cut his finger, wincing as he watched the blood well up the moment his hand drew back. The hole in the window was in the shape of a heart, albeit awkward and slightly misshapen.

Nonetheless, he continued down the way, looking at all of the decorated shops and smiling face. It was quite amusing to Midoriya how humanity could so easily turn to ignore problems that plagued them. Towards the inner part of the city, where security was a lot heavier, petty thieves didn’t dare to go. After the fall of All Might, it was true that crime rates went up and pathetic renegades took to the streets more, but few were strong, brave, or surprisingly stupid enough to go after high concentrated areas. Almost all of the crimes reported recently were convenience stores and shops that were in residential areas.

Well, except for this idiot.

Midoriya stepped back just enough to perfectly time his next movement. He stuck his foot out and up, catching the runaway’s heel and causing them to lose all balance. Resisting the urge to laugh when the perp faceplanted into the ground. Rather than chuckle and stay still for the authorities to find him, the young villain used the slight contact to overwhelm the runaway and immobilize them. When he stuck his leg out, a bit of skin was exposed, and it just so happened to brush the opposite slip. Midoriya felt the fear of being caught, despite having no personal woes, and he surplused that petty fear. Once the thief was on the ground, the young villain let out a cry and ran back the way he came. His grip on the fear held steady until he got bored two blocks away and released it.

Walking back up the other side of the road, he was glad to see that the authorities used his quirk to their best advantage. Midoriya carefully avoided the scene, watching from the other side of the road with disgust. Villains like that disgusted him; people who created anarchy just to make a scene. That was why Midoriya hated All For One. Shigaraki was cast aside and lived on the streets, Toga had mental issues due to her bad upbringing, Dabi had an asshole for a father, Twice was just looking for a group that would accept him and every form he came in, Mange was ridiculed for her gender identity, and Spinner- unlike the rest- chased justice. All For One, however, just wanted anarchy and was a sadist who enjoyed watching people suffer. He enjoyed watching people fight back only to crush what little light they had left in their eyes; All For One was a villain in the truest regard. Nonetheless, his feet had carried him to the store that he needed to go to.

After a few trips to a handful of different stores, Midoriya had all of his utility shopping done for the month- of course, that wasn’t including any chemicals or black market items: he’d have to get those later. Now he stood in front of what, he liked to call, a snack shop. It was almost like a convenience store, but it was catered more towards people who were hungry and enjoyed aesthetically pleasing treats. Nonetheless, it was one of his favorite places on the strip, because it had good food that was tasty and easily stored away from the rest of the murderous children. “Greetings!” The attendant chimed, only seeing Midoriya for a few seconds, just long enough to see the lazy peace sign wave that he gave before disappearing down an aisle.

Midoriya carefully scanned the shelves for items that were cheap enough to not stand out when he already had a few grocery bags on his arm, but they still had to be fun to eat. Most of his groceries were hidden within the backpack that he brought, so it wasn’t as skeptical as it could be. At least, it wouldn’t be as questionable, so long as the cashier doesn’t mistake him for a petty thief and attempt to check in his backpack. It was a good thing that he kept the receipts. That, however, left Midoriya’s mind the moment he began looking at what the aisle had to offer for him.There were chips and chocolates shaped like cats and cute dippable biscuits. Picking up strawberry croissants and biteable biscuits with vanilla flavoring, impulse told Midoriya to spend an eccentric amount of money here; buy everything within his sight. However, he managed to talk himself out of that and only buy a handful of snacks for now.

At the front desk the cashier was new, Midoriya observed offhandedly as he placed the treats on the counter. “Hello, did you find everything okay?” the silence was broken, “Yes, thank you.” It was an easy conversation between them, “How are you?” “I’m doing well, and you?” “The same;” exactly the type of conversation that you would get at any shop or store. That was, until the young cashier looked up, “Your total is-” the sentence was abruptly cut off, leaving Midoriya to look up from the handful of small bills that he held. “What?” his question was point-blank, since he needed to know his total so that he could pay and go home. “Y-you’re that villain,” the cashier was in their late teens, early twenties at the oldest, so it was no wonder that they feared the idea of death, “D-Deku, was it?” Clearly the cashier wasn’t stupid; they whispered their woes about Midoriya being a villain, rather than announcing it, knowing that any loud noises could get them killed. “I’m just going grocery shopping,” Midoriya retorted, a bit hurt by the kid’s freak out. Granted, the fear was completely justified, even to those who didn’t know the extent of his work, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hurtful, nonetheless. “I-I heard rumors that you trick people into following you to the alleyways where you kill them and dispose of the bodies in awful ways,” honestly, Midoriya wondered what those ‘awful ways’ were to the public. So, okay, he has done that before a couple of times, but, “I’m literally just here to buy some snacks.”

The cashier was rather smart, up until the ‘rumor-has-it’ part, when it came to dealing with a villain. Of course, it was stupid to point them out- letting them know that their cover is blown- before calling the police or the emergency hotline. Not to mention the fact that the young worker didn’t even attempt to call the police, keeping their hands on the counter at all times when talking to a dangerous criminal. Letting out a sigh, Midoriya read the total for himself, placing the correct number of bills on the counter and picking up his bags. “Have a nice day,” there was a shop that he could never go back to. That really sucked, since he enjoyed going there! They had adorable and delicious snacks that he could spend more money than usual and pretend that he was just a kid who had been saving up.

Unfortunately, he had to find a new place now- maybe in a new prefecture or a different shopping district. Midoriya would have to if he didn’t want to take a gamble with being outed and caught or causing a scene with a large scale fight. Sighing once more, he disappeared down an alleyway, taking the scenic route home. His legs would ache when he got back to the hideout, but Midoriya couldn’t run the risk of authorities waiting at the station. With all of those people, a getaway would be extremely difficult without causing a major scene, and he didn’t want any casualties or injuries, whether it be to him, those chasing him, or worse, the bystanders.

It was a wonder that he did decide to take the backway. A couple miles in, he turned the corner to see a gruff man draping himself overtop of a young girl. Her clothes were ripped and tears continued to roll down her cheeks as she desperately tried to free his deathly grip. “Someone! Please! Help!” she cried, knowing that her screams were in vain. “Hush, hush. You know that no one is coming to help you,” he “assured” her, using the hand that wasn’t keeping her arms together above her head to caress her face, “And, if you keep struggling, this will be a lot more painful for you.” His threats made her go limp, opening up a world of possibility for the ugly thug. His disgusting tongue traced her neck as his free hand began to pull down the clothing on her lower half-

In that second, Midoriya had enough.

He had been watching, waiting to build up his anger and surplus his quirk, but, if he got any angrier, he might kill. Instead, he shot a wave of energy, knocking the m-brute to the ground. Someone like that didn’t even deserve to be called a “man.” The thug hit his head on the wall, knocking him out instantly; maybe Midoriya shouldn’t have stored up that much anger. He could hear the poor girl’s whimpering as he stalked closer. Surely, she thought that he was going to pick up where the other man left off. Granting, it didn’t help that he was taking off his hoodie.

Handing the fabric to the girl, since her shirt was split in two, he kneeled down. “The quickest way out of here is left, left, right, left. Remember that. There’s a police station across the street from that alleyway,” he looked her dead in the eyes, a hand trailing back to the knocked out ugly behind him. Thankfully, drugs and overdoses were plaguing his dark thoughts, so Midoriya was able to recreate that by surplusing the feeling within the body on the ground. “You had that,” he pointed to the hoodie that she held close to her chest, “On your waist, and he overdosed before anything happened. I was never here. Try him for attempted rape and assault. Got that?” he instructed her, waiting for the girl to nod. “I had this,” she gripped the hoodie even tighter, “On my waist. The way to get out is left, left, right, left, and to get back in would be right, right, left, right, so that I can bring the police here where he overdosed.” She was a smart girl; caught on quickly. Midoriya nodded, standing up and getting a few paces away before turning back around. She had put on the hoodie, looking over at where his footsteps stopped. Midoriya looked over his shoulder, back at the girl, “And?” there was one thing that she didn’t repeat, “And... You were never here,” she recalled before getting up to go get the authorities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without the graphic details: Midoriya stops a girl from being raped by overthrowing her attacker and knocking him out. Midoriya gives the girl his hoodie and tells her how to get out with the condition that "she never saw him."


	28. Underground

Midoriya grumbled back to the hideout, head pounding as if he had a hangover. Apparently that was the thing that plagued the ugly brute the most: how his fucking hangovers felt. Grumbling as he finally made it back to the hangout, the young villain slunk himself over the counter, whining to Kurogiri, “Would a hangover cure work if you don’t actually have a hangover?” Dabi, who was hanging out with the League since he was bored felt the need to comment, “You could just let go of your grip on the bastard.” It was an obvious choice; no fault of Dabi’s acrimony or sarcasm. “Dunno when the authorities are gonna get there,” Midoriya grumbled, gripping his head. His words clearly caught plenty of attention; of course they would, literally everybody in the room, including himself, was wanted by the authorities for some thing or another. “He was a pathetic, drunk, sleazebag who was draped over a girl half his age that was screaming and crying. I immobilized him for her with the condition that she kept me out of the picture entirely,” he explained, clearing up the situation.

While everyone in the room was lumped under the umbrella term, “villain,” no one would give an ass like that any second glance. “People like that ruin the term ‘villain’ for all of us,” Kurogiri was the first to speak up, having far too much experience with those types of people. “It’s stupid to lump everyone together as if they were equal,” Dabi, surprisingly, was the one to pipe up. “I mean, a thief and a murderer are far from the same level,” Spinner, who had finally learned not to bring up Stain in front of Shigaraki, scoffed, allowing Midoriya to piggyback off of that, “And someone who is both is far more dangerous,” he looked to Magne. Most everyone in the room was known for murder, but she was also quite skilled as a robber. “The natural classification of villains is also off on scale! SS, S, A, B, C, D; as if we can be described as numbers!” it was Compress, the one who arguably spent the most time living in a natural society, who brought up the almost never used alphabetical system of classification. “They don’t want to ‘worry the public’ by announcing large class villains, but, in reality, they’re only endangering the public even more. It’s honestly funny how society can just push things aside and pretend that they’re not there just because they don’t want to admit that they can’t solve everything,” Midoriya ridiculed, rolling his eyes in disgust and disappointment.

“It’s about time to get going,” Kurogiri announced over the counter, “If there’s nothing left to discuss.” Everyone in the League was supposed to be scattered across the towns, but that got lonely sometimes. “I claim relevance,” Midoriya argued from his seat at the bar stool, “The whole reason that we’re split up is to look for new recruits, right? So, we need to know what to look for, unless you want us launching another USJ operation.” The young villain had a point, especially now that they didn’t have All For One’s guidance any longer. It was up to Shigaraki to mature by himself, and his level of maturity was affected by the level of those around him. “He’s not wrong, thoughh~” Mange grumbled, getting out of her seat, “I’m gonna go meet up with one of my old friends and see if they have anything.” She waved before taking her leave.

Midoriya looked down at the information sheet that he had managed to dig up; an entire sheet full of notes on a suitable Shiketsu student: Utsushimi Camie. She was a bit of a ditz, but that didn’t take away from her strength, not to mention her speaking manor was flexible enough for even the dropout Himiko Toga to get down. Midoriya looked back at the sheet: pen markings overlapped some of the text where he wrote notes to help her understand different things. They had five days left before the Provisional Hero Licensing Exam, which gave Toga the opportunity to study tomorrow before she went off the grid. Contacting her at any moment would be risky, so she would be flying mostly blind. Unlike some people, Midoriya had faith in her stealth abilities, after all, the police had less than half of her kills recorded. Her quirk was near perfect for full blown stealth operations; she just needed someone who could bottle that potential.

Pushing that aside, literally, Midoriya walked around the counter to get changed. The bar would open soon, and his shift would begin as usual. This time around, the security on the bar was a lot tougher than it used to be the keep the police out, but that didn’t mean that the number of hours open changed much. Rather than working on a day to day schedule, thankfully, the bar changed to only be open from six at night to three in the morning, except for Saturdays, when they were open from noon until five the next morning. Of course, that made things hard for Midoriya and Kurogiri, the two main barkeeps, when the sun came up and they hadn’t slept a wink, but there isn’t rest for the wicked. As the cobalt sky faded to indigo and the clouds were replaced with stars, Midoriya opened up shop. He carefully stashed the papers underneath the bar where they wouldn’t get ruined before he sat behind the bar.

The style of the bar was still a small, “down home” establishment type that wasn’t too open or too updated, but it was, for lack of better word, cozy. The simplistic wood finishings gave it a rustic feel, but, at the same time, it was one that could easily be perceived as laziness or the idea that a place doesn’t have to be fancy to have a good drink. This was mostly for the regulars; those that become docile with alcohol or just drink to drink. Cafe Calamity was, and had always been, a place of drunken peace surrounded by a halo of cheap cigar smoke. By /limiting their excessive interior, they become a place that’s less memorable, especially as a villain organization, and, by flying under the memorable radar, they are less likely to be found out. Not to mention, being difficult to find is also a perfect way to root out most of the people that want to join the League just because of strength in numbers.

Most of the people.

The second costumer of the day walked in, sitting opposite to the first. The comparison between the two was stark: the first customer was still dressed in suit and tie, ordering a decently priced sipping whiskey, compared to his first-last place counterpart wore baggy clothes and ordered a cheap beer. His hair was greasy and his clothes had more wrinkles than a retirement home. Thankfully for Midoriya, the first customer began speaking first, “How are the scouting operations going?” he twirled his class around twice before taking a long sip. “Slow,” Midoriya replied with a single word. “Scouting~? Wo~ah! That sounds like something out of a video game. What’cha scoutin’ for?” immediately, the deadbeat’s speech pattern was odd, but it was easily brushed off by the continuation of the conversation. “Scouting, it’s like recruitment, but it’s nothing that you need to worry about,” the clean cut customer retorted, looking the bum up and down. “Aw~ that’s not nice. Especially since I already know what you two are talking about. It’s the League, right? This whole new League Of Villains thing,” the gutterpup laughed, “Once I stole a lollipop when I was like five. I’m not really much of a villain, but it seems like fun. Besides, without All Might how could we get caught?”

Right before the regular could get a word in and rile himself up, Midoriya spoke, “Toga, we really need to work on your roleplay, especially if you’re going to be the stealth of our missions.” He looked her dead in the eyes, seeing through the flesh facade she wore. “I really thought I had it this time!” she grumbled, removing the top layer of flesh from her body as she showed her true form. “Toga! What did I say about the floors?” that was always so difficult to clean up, and Midoriya was always the one to do it! “Yeah, yeah, but I’m not here for your nagging, although I do love it so~” she cooed, awaiting the information that Deku had dug up. “Surname: Camie. Quirk: Glamour, so she can basically create illusions, which will be fairly easy for you to recreate. She’s got a bold personality, but rumor is that she’s actually quite dense. You two aren’t too far apart, but, please Toga, remember the stakes. I’ll help you catch her tomorrow. We can stakeout for the day,” Midoriya explained as the young blonde nodded happily, “Will do!”


	29. Blend In Bartend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot more planned, but it didn't work out whoops  
> Sorry it's a bit late time wise, I wasn't home at all today. Also, I apologize since next week I am taking a break from writing to give myself a bit of breathing room between chapters.  
> I hope you enjoy this one nonetheless!

“Study this while I work through my shift,” Midoriya instructed, “If you need some help, I can help you between the gaps, Kay?” Toga giggled, “You talk as if this bar is busy,” she blinked before adding, “Like, ever~” Midoriya’s smile sent a ripple through the girl that sent unease throughout the crowd, no matter how small it was. Toga’s smile was anything but reassuring, and the more genuine it was, the creepier it got. “Aw, Izuku~” she kept the tone that she was working on, “Can I kill you, like, please~?” It was even more unnerving when she spoke in a tone that was not her own, yet continued to talk with her own sickly verbiage. The customer sitting at the other side of the bar looked near petrified: this guy just walked in, shed his own flesh, turned out to be a girl, and openly threatened the barkeep! Then the barkeep laughed!

At the old place, the regulars were used to the League full of bad personalities, but the new facility hadn’t been around long enough for all of the League members to be in one place at the same time. “Fill my cup, please, somethin’ with a little bit of a kick,” the first customer let out a sigh, fully well knowing that this was not a Mom n’ Pop bar run by a twenty something, freckle faced kid and his ominous uncle. Midoriya nodded, carefully picking out something from the middle shelves with just enough of a kick to be satisfying.

Slowly but surely, patreons made their way in and out of the bar. Businessmen with problems that a normal person wouldn’t understand, mercenaries looking for their next move, and high class drug dealers. Of course, those people were Midoriya’s favorite, and he found it absolutely hilarious that most all of them had the same assumption that he was a twenty-some year old running this bar with his uncle, (Kurogiri), and their friend, or from some viewpoints business partner, (Shigaraki). No one was there to hook up or defile their bathroom stall, nor were they there to make a mess and show off. Deku still had a few of his clients from the previous location, as well as new blood looking for a new high. There were also a few other dealers who would talk to each other about various chemicals and mixes like scientists working on a medical project. Not to mention that the mercenaries would talk to the chemists and dealers for new ways to take out bounties and picking up clients by taking out debts. The bar was in just the right place for the classier undergroundlings- at least for the most part.

“Hey~ Hey~” a boy in his twenties walked over to the counter, “I hear some good things coming from this bar.” He cockily sat in one of the bar stools right in front of Midoriya, “I hear that you’re looking for strength by adding up a few numbers.” Clearly this guy liked hearing the sound of his own voice, because he would not shut up for more than thirty seconds at a time, “I’m pretty strong without numbers, so what do you say, pretty boy? You gonna beg me to join your little gang?” If there was one thing that Midoriya hated, it was baseless cockiness- like underlings who think they’re hot shit because they kiss a golden ass. “So you’re strong, ey?” Deku purred, reaching underneath the table for a custom order that was supposed to be coming around at one o’clock that morning, even though it was only twelve thirty.

Those that knew Deku and what he did knew exactly what was going on as the young male opened the case and allowed eyes to gaze upon the row of vials. Each was a different color, ranging from red to purple with code names above each one and when to use each one on the bottom. “Good. I’ve been looking for a test subject. Age twenty two, quirk: Degradation Paralyzation, at least that’s what the media calls it, but the truth is your quirk activates when you’re aroused, and you have an extreme belittlement kink,” Midoriya had seen a few newspaper articles and managed to put the information together, “Wanted for three assaults and five rapes, most all on separate occasions. However, you once escaped Endeavor. Is that correct?” Everything was spot on, so much so that it was almost scary, but, of course, the cocky brat took it in the wrong way. “Yeah, I guess I am pretty famous,” he bragged as if someone pinning him at each of the crime scenes was a good thing. Even Toga from her bar stool a few paces away snorted knowingly, because to be known was almost the same as to be caught. It took all of Midoriya’s efforts not to laugh at the baselessly cocky display. If he could put together that information, so could the authorities.

That, however, didn’t matter as Deku continued his twisted run. “It’s important for the League for our members to be top notch,” he started, displaying the bottles as soon as he carefully lifted a flap up and stuck it to the back of the case’s inside, covering the notes about each bottle. Continuing, his facial muscles shifted, finally allowing him to express his sadistic side,   
“Someone like you, surely, could withstand a small dose of medicine, right? No big deal, right?” His cute smile should have been a dead giveaway that the thug wasn’t going to get out of that bar alive. “I can take a little bit of medicine,” he laughed, looking around the bar as if to challenge the patreons. The looks of disbelief hit a chord of insecurity in the thug, “I can too take that shit, hell, I could take double that goddamned dosage! Anybody who thinks I can’t can fucking watch me! Do it! Hit me up!” He went from sitting, to standing, to slamming his fist on the bar, and then to sitting again while he spoke. The only thing that he accomplished was testing Midoriya’s bearing as he attempted not to burst out into laughter. Each of the seven containers was about the size of his pinky, which was enough to make almost anyone feel a false sense of complacency. “Be patient, now,” Deku’s voice was low and tantamount to soothing, but his eyes were murky and clouded with hunger. The display could be taken as either calming or predatory, but, thankfully, the man across the counter saw it as the (former), letting his guard down as he extended his arm across the counter. Deku gestured to the vibrant colors, “Do you want to pick one or should I?” to which the thug shrugged, “You can, I guess.” It wasn’t a bad choice, seeing as Deku was the one who was judging the initiation test.

It just so happened that the client who requested the loadout walked into the door, recognizing his request immediately. She made her way to the bar, curious to see what her dealer had to dish out. “I’ll go with green,” he smiled- always a bad sign- since they were arranged by fastest to slowest deaths. Deku took out the green vial and one of the syringes from the bottom half of the case, carefully taking out half an ounce of the liquid. “That’s a dose?” the boy across from the villain snorted, “You don’t have to baby me. Come on, I can-” his cockiness got ahold of him. “You,” Deku shoved the needle into a vague vein area; it didn’t matter if it went directly into the bloodstream, “Don’t get to determine what I do.” He pushed the back of the syringe the moment he said ‘I do.’

In that instant, the man lost his ability to speak. Hell, he lost his ability to sit up straight as he fell to the floor and started seizing. “They’re organized from strongest to weakest. The range is from one minute to an hour. Red takes a minute, Orange is five, Yellow is ten, he’ll be suffering for fifteen, Blue takes thirty, Indigo is forty five, and Purple is the hour,” Deku began explaining to his client, turning the case towards her. “I’ll offer a hundred off for using it once,” he brought a stopwatch and placed it on the table, “But only that, because it ensures that it works.” She nodded, “This is the first payment, and I accept your deal,” handing him the money, she picked up the stopwatch. Her eyes flicked from the watch to the body, tears coming out of the man on the floor as he choked out screams of silent agony. He cried, reaching out for her help, but she was a sadist and loving his entire performance.

Shortly after that, Midoriya handed the bar over to Kurogiri who was waking up for his shift. Toga had fallen asleep at the bar, so he decided to leave her be while he went to catch up on a bit of sleep as well. He read over the battle plan for later that day, when the sun was in the sky. Although his dreams plagued his mind with regrets, the plan he had brewing for the next day was enough to make him ignore it for the time being. He and Toga were one step closer to a society without the hero plague, even if they still had a while to go.


	30. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing from Twice's point of view, like just being honest.
> 
> I accidentally set the date to twenty eighteen when I updated this Saturday!! I am big dumb!

Waking up that morning was relatively pleasant, for Midoriya at least, as he placed both feet on the ground and stretched his tired limbs. Toga, on the other hand, was still groaning about the back pain that she had from falling asleep hunched over the bar on her little stool. She curled up into the blanket that her fellow partner in crime had put on her shoulders that night, grumbling, “It hurts t’ move.” Despite how much he wanted to make fun of her for causing her own demise, or scold her for her bad habits, Midoriya pushed both of those to the side and focused on the task ahead, “We have a mission today, so, sorry, but you have to move. Try stretching out.” Of course, Toga did not want to do any of that, “No, it hurts,” she whined, “And I don’t wanna go.” Figuring that this, or something like it, would happen, the annoyed, forest haired boy pushed past that feeling, biting his lip and repressed the urge to groan with annoyance. Thankful that he woke the both of them up an hour before the rendezvous, he stopped for a breath, realizing that he needed to play his cards a certain way, “Toga, I need you on this mission,” insisting was the best option. “Really?” she brightened as if she had forgotten about the pain, earning a clear response of, “Of course,” from Midoriya. “Now, our target usually goes on a morning jog at this time through these places, usually near shopping centers to check for deals or suspicious people. We are going to…” he explained the plan using to the point sentences as he laid out a map and began to visualize the plan.

About the same time, Twice was waking up and living a typical- no, it was completely unconventional- morning. Looking out the window was a struggle in itself; he and himself were fighting over how the people were viewed. On one hand their smiling faces in spite of all the plagues of the world was something to admire, but it was also sickening. They walked to and from like clockwork, smiling as if the sun was never going to stop shining: it was amazing- and a pile of horse shit. A day like today would start out by observing the people; it wasn’t anything special- except it absolutely was. He couldn’t figure out what bothered him more, the mundane and almost static voice of “Mister Miyagi” or the redundant voice of himself. It was as if he was narrating his own life- no it wasn’t! Anxiety was bubbling up in society- but they were just smiling, laughing- about the new number one, Endeavor. He was a strong, hard worker- he was just using heroism as a vent for his own frustrations- known for saving many people. “But this will have quite an impact on our lives moving forward, won’t it?” Miyagi argued, something Twice appreciated- surprisingly he agreed as well, “And we as a society need to prepare ourselves for this going forward.” Miyagi looked at the big picture, unlike most of society. It was respectful- except it wasn’t: all he was doing was inciting baseless fear into others, but it was good because he was speaking the truth, but the truth never helped anyone. Society seems to hate the truth.

Miyagi’s words faded, as they always did, from Twice’s mind as he got lost in himself. Endeavor. Of course, anyone would have many opinions on him- they all think he’s scary. He kind of is, though, for both civilians and villains- but not enough to make anything stop, so it just affects society. Strength piled on strength, he was more like a comic book villain than any actual villain- he was like a superhuman- truly the definition of the word “super-human,” or “extraordinary.” Why was it extra-ordinary when extraordinary is the opposite of ordinary? Endeavor was certainly not anything “ordinary.” The only reason he was the number two hero to begin with was because of sheer power- that’s to say that nobody really liked him. It wasn’t quite “not liking him,” but more of the fact that he was a tough individual. Coarse was just about the only good word to describe him. His power over popularity wasn’t a topic that he would find enjoyable; surely he wouldn’t find it appealing, either. If it were Twice, he would hate it: to be a symbol of the dwindling hero society.

“Endeavor, as a hero, has saved the lives of many people and resolved the situation, but, at the same time, there are quite a few instances where his temper was his driving force,” it was only a human response- if to say that he was human, “Most of his supporters are from the same group, specifically men from their twenties to forties, unlike All Might who had a fanbase so diverse that no title could encompass a ‘majority’ of his supporters,” popularity wasn’t everything- but he was unpopular for a reason. Putting one man on top, they were practically asking for the hierarchy to tumble- this is about Endeavor and the stick up his ass- this would have been, too, if he had continued. “We, as a society, need to stop passively being protected,” but that was society’s role- you should have done that from the beginning! “And push him as a hero,” as if encouraging him would do much of anything- that’s the spirit! Always push forward! Pushing forward is what got him where he was now! “Rather than talking about all of his downsides-” like you were just doing- he’s got a point, “We need to focus on his upsides and what he can do for us as a hero-” that’s not what you were just saying- but he’s right. He’s just trying to avoid controversy- he’s trying to speak the truth. What does he know of the truth? The truth is that the world is a shithole that’s been sitting for too long! Trying not to throw the remote, Twice cut off the tv, gripping his head in striking pain. Thinking was his downfall, but it wasn’t as if he just could stop thinking- well- no, he couldn’t! He tried! Day after day, there was this voice in his head- several sometimes- not helping.

“It’s time to get going,” he mumbled, throwing on a jacket. He couldn’t spend the entire day holed up in the motel- duty calls! What a bore; he couldn’t wait! It was still on his mind, though: the supposed “weakening” of heroes. It wasn’t directly related to power- yes it was; nobody can be stronger than All Might. No, no, what was weakening was the spirit, the belief in heroism- but also the power. Ignoring the power- for now- All Might was a hero just to be a hero- at least, that’s what he wanted people to think- and he acted as if his hobby was saving people. On the other hand, Endeavor was a hero that embodied power itself- his hobby was seeing how far he could shove the stick up his ass- but he always had his own best interests in mind. There was a gap in motivation, which led to a gap in progress. Without the words, “I am here,” the public lost, not a hero saying a phrase, but the faith that they had instilled in that man. Those words alone seemed to have the power to stop temptation with fear, but, without them, the dams broke loose.

A large brute broke through the window of a convenience store carrying half the damn counter in a brilliantly stupid display of strength. It was true to say that lone thug wouldn’t get much of anywhere of the street, even with such impressive strength, just because All Might was out of the picture. “Hey! Hero!” the shop manager called out to some B, C, or D-listed hero- Twice wasn’t quite sure, nor did he care. This, however, was where things got interesting- of course they had been interesting the entire time. He watched the entire thing unfold, as did a handful of civilians that didn’t bother to warn the hero about an approaching challenger- this wasn’t a video game; he was more like a new problem that arose. Twice had been spending too much time with Shigaraki. The fearless and cowardly leader person was always making video game analogies that Twice never quite got, but he understood them all the time! “We’re the team Reservoir Dogs!” a name that truly showed their intelligence; rather than a reservoir, they were more like sewer rats. They were nothing at all what the League was looking for. No doubt, it was painfully obvious that their idea of “strength in numbers” was to make up for their own personal insecurities. Petty crimes like this were just about the equivalent of running a red light or a stop sign, and it was no longer a big deal when you did it with your friends. Rather than doing it for a justice or a purpose, they were the type to do it for a simple adrenaline rush.

On the other side of town, Dabi wasn’t having too much luck either. He, unlike the others, had to keep a lower profile since his everyday look stood out a lot more than theirs. Mostly sticking to the alleyways, it was no surprise that he ran lot a of low level thugs. “What’s with that stupid face of yours?” and “I’m gonna make you regret lookin at us like that!” were just two of the typical phrases that the villain heard just about on the daily. “This is getting old,” he bored himself with all of this searching, raising an annoyed hand to activate his quirk. “Nope. We don’t need any of you,” he hissed, dark and light blue wisps erupting from his arm and burning the others to a crisp. “The least you can due is fuel my flames,” Dabi laughed; his quirk wasn’t called cremation for shits and giggles. This was the only fun part about all of the shitty wannabes that popped out of the sidewalk when the number one weedeater was taken down. Nonetheless, he slunk through the alleyways looking for the miniature gangs that formed together on their own ideals. Even if he was well aware of how much of a dud this entire investigation was, Shigaraki had sold the importance of it, and, well, taking out any “competition” was fun.


	31. Hiatus notice

I regret to inform you all that I did not have the time to finish chapter chapter thirty.

I also wanted to announce that I am initiating a temporary hiatus.  
Personally, I feel like I am no longer excited to write the next chapter, and it shows in my work. While this might be just me, I plan on taking a bit of time to try and find the spark once again.

I apologize for the inconvenience.


	32. Next Move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Surprised to see me, huh? Well, I hate to break it to you; No hero is not officially off hiatus because I don't know if I'm in a place to update regularly yet, but I did finish a chapter that I wanted to give to you guys.

“Reservoir Dogs” what a stupid name- I think it’s quite compelling! It’s like doing an in depth analysis on “Spot’s Day At The Park.” On one hand, Twice loved the meaning that such a phrase held: disregarded and labeled “dogs,” they were a group that drowned in the mass waters of society. However, it was more than likely just the thugs putting words together that they thought sounded cool, and that was lame. The team worked decently well together: hiding members from view of any attacker was a legitimate strategy to throw opposers off of their game; the group’s timing wasn’t half bad, for what it was at least; and they seemed to be a tight knit group that knew how to use one another in a way that got the job done without outly sacrificing one of them. Of course, they were far too eager about completing such a simple task; their attack lacked planning- if another hero had shown up, they wouldn’t be getting away scot free; they had no ambition; and their goals were petty. The League had attempted an attack with a bunch of “level one players” as Shigaraki called them, but the USJ attack failed. That was why the League of Villain’s Vanguard Action Squad was formed: to have a smaller group of “high level players.”

It was a wonder how so much could go through Twice’s head in the handful of seconds before a mechanical song took him back to the roadside corner where he was standing. Pulling out his phone, he answered Giran’s call, “What did you need Giran? You doin’ well?” Of course, the broker didn’t mind taking a break from all of the work that he had piled on himself, but messing with people was quite fun to do. “It seems like so long! How are you holding up these days?” he deliberately avoided Twice’s question and threw the curveball at the oddball. When he wanted or needed to think about something, his thoughts became jumbled: an ode to how fucked up he was. “How I’m doing: I dunno. I don’t know,” it was sad that he couldn’t even put effort into something as minute as that without his mind scrambling like eggs. The broker kept up the conversation, practically drinking in the satisfaction of toying with someone as easy as it was to toy with Twice’s various mood swings, “Aw, that doesn’t sound too good.” Fully well knowing that he was being messed with, “Doesn’t matter, answer my question. Are you doing well?” he worked to change the subject.

“Ah, I’m doing so well. In fact, I could practically shriek with joy,” he looked down at the various devices that he used to avoid being traced and caught, “Clientele is practically hunting us down like a limited edition item! I’m swamped in work!” He clearly wasn’t lying, fiddling with a few of his newest devices, all bought from local sellers that were not local to him, pawn shops, or untraceable online buys. “Punks off the street are hunting us down because of you guys! Everyone wants to be a part of the hunt! Ain’t that great?” he looked at the charts that mapped black market sales, seeing the spikes that meant he got paid. “Yeah, that’s the news we near to hear!” more members meant stronger forces, “No, that’s not what we need at all!” punks off the street? Were they launching another USJ? They needed high quality members, not low lying, wimpy street rats that relied on superpowered equipment. Although even if the new members started out bad, the League could train them- no, no they didn’t have the time or funds for that! More people on the street meant more chaos which was perfectly terrible! All of the disarray could provide adequate cover for the League, but the term “villain” would degrade so horribly; how could they claim their cause then? Petty thugs were not what they needed, but they could be used like- “Ugh! Shut up! Shut up!” Twice gripped his head in pain. “What do you need! I’ve got my hands full,” he needed to find others to unite for their cause to help Shigaraki build up the team’s forces. Although he wasn’t doing anything at the moment, “I got nothing to do right now,” he did need to hear what Giran had to say.

Even if the broker was an asshole who loved to toy with people and watch the world burn, he did have contact with Shigaraki where Twice was lacking. “It’s such a shame, ya know? I can’t get ahold of Dabi, and I thought that I’d at least reach out to him,” it was true that Twice and Dabi were near the same area as each other, but Giran didn’t expect either two to talk to each other. The only one who could really understand and hold a conversation with Twice was Toga, then again that was because she had a few mental problems herself. “Shigaraki wants to get everyone together again, but I’m sure you’ve already heard,” the broker was as good at wording as an experienced novelist; he knew exactly what to say to get under someone’s skin. Even simply turning a statement into a question was enough to send Twice off of the edge. “Yeah, of course I knew that!” he remembered the conversation that he and Shigaraki had a while ago about meeting back up roughly around this time, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure, “I wasn’t told anything!” He could have been misremembering; they might not have told him anything. After all, who wants someone as broken as him in such an important plan? By what he knew, they whole League could be in a room laughing at him! This entire member search plan could have just been an excuse for the League to get him out of their hair- “Just stop blubbering damn it!” Giran, from the other side, chuckled lowly, “Alright, just keep out of trouble until we all meet up,” he ended the call and went back to informing the others.

The pain in Twice’s head was so sharp that he could feel it just like it was that day. What if he wasn’t the real Jin? No, no, it had to be him! He was him! He was Jin! How did he know? Was it because of the scar on his forehead? Any of his clones could have sustained such damage! He wasn’t weak- he was deficient- no he wasn’t! He might not even be the real Bubaigawara Jin! With all of these voices in his head, he couldn’t tell who he was. The pain ripped him in two, “I’m splitting up,” his voice whispered, but he wasn’t sure if it was aloud or in his head. Of course, if it was in his head, it would have been drowned out by the noise. ‘You are weak;’ ‘You’re not needed;’ ‘You aren’t real;’ ‘You’re a fake!’ ‘Clone!’ How was he to tell real from fake? He would just know- but what if he didn’t know! Who is he, really? Bubaigawara Jin- A clone- A fake- A cool guy!- A failure! “I... am... me…” he whispered, feeling both legs go numb as he wobbled closer to the wall.

It was frustrating to feel like he did; his mental state was like an open wound. “I’m splitting up,” the pain was sharp; the voices were loud; he was not okay. He was a bullet wound that was oozing blood, and he was going to bleed out if he didn’t wrap that wound and fast. He needed to wrap up, conceal himself: he needed to cover the wound or he would bleed out. “But if I cover myself,” he slipped the mask on his face, lucky that the heroes were too cautious to announce the League of Villains to the public, “I remain as one.” With his labored breathing, Jin- no, Twice attempted to catch his breath and reclaim himself. At one point I used to be several people- no, no, no, I created several versions of myself with my quirk, “doubling.” Making one thing into two: it’s a very simple topic, at least that was what I used to think. In order to create an exact replica of something, I need to know all of the little details, that’s why it was so natural to recreate myself. Who am I talking to? Why you readers, of course! As you can imagine, it was great and absolutely terrible! Many people have a thought like that on a busy day: if only I had (more) of myself! Then I could get anything done! But, me, I actually had that power, so I used- abused it. With a team of myself, I had to do nothing- everything! It was so annoying having to serve someone that was myself- that person was not you! I’m talking about me! How do you know that it was you who was “king?” I could have been “king.” ANYWAYS, one of us was sitting atop a hierarchy of myself, so, naturally, I held resentment for the lazy bastard who sat at the top- what do you mean? It was great at the top- nobody wanted you there!

Back to the story, my quirk gets marginally stronger the more I know about the things that I create, so my- fellow- clones were pretty sturdy. One of them- us- sought to “dethrone” me- you? No, we wanted to dethrone the “king” as he called himself- he was annoying- what a self-righteous bastard- ah, he wasn’t too bad. As you can see, we began to argue: “Who is the real Jin? How can we tell?” All of us felt like the ‘real Jin,’ so how could any of us have told who actually was real? We all fought for, what, how long was it again? It was for a full week, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was a week and two days. For a week and two days, we fought until only one of us remained left. That one standing was me; whether or not I’m the real Bubaigawara Jin, who knows? All I do know is that a maniac like me has no place in this “decent” world. Heroes only save those with what they deem “pure hearts,” which meant no nutbags, headcases, or misunderstood lost souls. The Villain Alliance was like a rotting board in an otherwise perfect foundation; it was a host for all of the bugs and ugly creatures that home owners sought to destroy. The Villain Alliance is a place for misfits like me to call home, so that’s why I’m out looking every day for those very misfits.

Crazy kids looking for a place to fit in, wandering the streets just as I once was. Thinking about it is sad to me because I used to be just like them. Unlike Shigaraki, I don’t have anything against heroes, per say. I’m not as righteous as Spinner, looking to fulfill Stain’s wish of a “true hero” society, or anything like that. I’m not like Mr. Compress, who only wanted to amaze people with those stellar- lame- tricks of his, and who is now seeking to amaze the world by rising above the rest. I’m not like Dabi, who arguably just wants to watch the world burn. I am similar to Magne in context because I am also just looking for people who will accept me, but she is looking for a world who will accept her and any others like her. I’m not like Toga- but I do like Toga- who really just wants to see the world. Sure her homicidal tendencies get in the way of her meeting other people like she plans, but she’s just a kid at heart who wants to see the world and experience emotions for herself. Me? I just want to fit in. I mean, hell, I couldn’t even fit in when standing in a room full of people who were literally just myself, but the Villain Alliance, despite all of our differences, are the closest thing to a family that we’ve each got. I, Ji- Twice am looking for more wild weirdos to add to our gang. Ah, now this next part is best told by third person perspective, so I’ll hand the story back over to the Narrator: hit it!

Twice looked down at a grotesque scene. One of the thugs for the Reservoir Dogs, at least his head, was looking up from the inner ring of a tire, but it wasn’t as if he had just gotten his head stuck in a tire. There was no body attached to his head, and, from what Twice could see, there didn’t seem to be a body at all. What made the scene gross wasn’t the thug’s ugly face or the angry yell that he was now permanently stuck with: it was the fact that he and the tire were one. Instead his rounded head that looked like a stuffed animal, his flesh molded together with the outer rubber of the tire. If Twice hadn’t just watched him celebrate robbing a convenience store like a girl who just got a plastic magical girl stick for her birthday, he would have thought that the tire before him was just an expert craftsman with a sick sense of humor.

“Grown adults grouping together,” a smooth voice yanked Twice’s attention away from the minute part of the scene that had his eyes found themselves drawn to. The truck that the Reservoir Dogs had used to flee the convenience store was now a pile of rubble and detached limbs, burning like a redneck’s bonfire on the fourth of July. “For something as small as this?” the man in the center was the one speaking, and, despite being the shortest one there, his aura was overpowering. The man to his left towered over him and the guy to his right had arms that were bigger than him, but it there was no doubt that the short one in the middle of those two terrifying men was the one controlling them. “It is rather weird…” the tall man beside him agreed, “Group activities are usually so much bigger than this…” They all stared at the flames in front of them, giving off an aura that made Twice want to stay exactly where he stood. For any normal person it would be the same feeling as witnessing a murder: I have to do something, but there’s nothing that I can do. “You are just sick, and illnesses should be cured,” the short, black haired man seemed to be speaking to, both, himself and the people around him. Perhaps he wasn’t speaking to either. Any normal person would be debating running away as quickly as possible or sneaking away to avoid being heard, but, as Twice watched them walk away when the third guy in the plague mask told the group that he got the cash, he was just crazy enough to chase them down.

“Have you ever heard of the League of Villains?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Twice really is a lot of fun. I kind of want to write an originally story centered around a character like that- getting in arguments with himself and the narrator. Heh. I think I have too much on my plate for that though...

**Author's Note:**

> This is a canon divergence where Midoriya talked to All Might before he left the ground, therefore the sewer monster never got out and he never learned All Might’s true form.  
> This is more of a canon parallel, having some of the key events of canon Hero taking place in different ways.  
> I will try to update it every Saturday (fic is currently on a short hiatus)


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